"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Luke 12: 6-7

I've noticed that there is a common trend amongst many people that they don't even realise. You and me being a part of them. Many of us are guilty of treating ourselves like we are of less value than we actually are. Now some will argue and say that that's not true because you love yourself, but even that category of people can be guilty of this. If you love yourself so much, why do you let other people treat you so badly? Not only that, but, why do you treat yourself even worse?

God created every single one of us with care and love and spent time working on every little detail of our person. He created us in his image (Genesis 1:27). The Bible tells us in Psalms 82:6 "Ye are gods". Don't misinterpret this and claim you are God or you deserve to be treated like a god or goddess with people bowing down to you. No. That is not what this verse means. If you are truly a child of God, which is to say you have accepted Jesus in your life and love God in faith, God is your father and therefore you are a god being his child. If a dog reproduces, surely the product will be a dog too. No human being gives birth to an animal for example. If he is your father, why wouldn't you be like him too?

Knowing this, we ought to treat ourselves like that. If everyone knew that you were, for example, a king, people would expect your person to reflect that of a king. This is done by respecting yourself. Why do you pollute your mouth with filthy, inappropriate words? Why is it that because you love your body, everyone must know by revealing it at every opportunity that comes? Why do you hang out with people that only deposit dirt in your mind? If you really respected yourself, this would not be so.

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:"

1 Peter 1:18-19

Don't you know that you are worth more than silver and gold? What people pay thousands for, you are worth so much more than. God could have paid the price of your sins with these mere things that are here today and gone tomorrow but no, he didn't. I beg you, people of God, start acting like you know who you are! Young girls need to learn that sexiness isn't about being naked. If you were truly confident about your body, you wouldn't seek the acceptance or flattery of people around you by showcasing it. I dare you to go to a party wearing clothes that don't draw attention to your body and see how differently people will treat you. Can't we learn how to express ourselves with our personalities and our characters rather than our looks?

God knows the exact number of hairs on your head. He knows the amount of cells in your body. He knows your DNA off by heart, without having to think twice. Ordinary flowers that are there for our admiration today and thrown into the fire tomorrow are cared for by God so of course he would care more for you. We have a very bad habit of sometimes thinking that nobody cares about us when the creator of everything cares for us more than anything. Your body is the temple of God. Don't pollute it.

There are certain people that will tempt you to stain that temple by doing things you know you should not be doing. Imagine your body is like a piece of paper. Every time you allow someone to see or get involved with a certain part of your body, a piece of that paper is being torn away. Now, you continue to let different people do this same thing, more and more girls or more and more boys, and eventually what was once a piece of paper now resembles pieces of thread. You then want to get married and what do you have to offer? Threads? Who wants thread? You expect the person you marry will be perfect and pure and clean and yet you yourself are doing the opposite? Don't be a fool.

Every time you allow yourself to get involved with somebody, it's like you're giving away a part of yourself. Tell me why you would give away parts of yourself so much that you're left empty in the end. Don't you realize who you are?! You shouldn't be so cheap but rather keep yourself. Make yourself special, like some sort of prize. What you do today will without a doubt affect your tomorrow, be that positively or negatively. One day you will either thank yourself or hate yourself for what you did in the past. Have you ever seen people that have been in so many relationships that it causes problems in every future one to come? If that's you, stop today and be honest with yourself. The truth is whoever you get with, there are two options. You're going to get married or you're going to get your heart broken. Tell me why anyone would willingly get into a relationship with someone you know you could never marry? Or why you get into relationships for "fun"? When did getting your heart broken a little bit more ever become classified as "fun"?

People will then use the excuse that, okay, whoever I'm going to get with, as long as they're wifey material it's okay. Alright, so they are like that, but are you? Are you ready yourself to commit seriously emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually? Make sure you can trust yourself before you allow somebody else to trust you. You were brought to this world to help others, not to destroy them. If you respect others, they will respect you. Similarly, if you respect yourself, others will respect you too.

Jesus did not die so that you can live a life for pleasure or for the acceptance of others. Learn to be accepted by God by doing his commandments and learn to accept your person as you do this. That doesn't mean do what you want or act how you want and deal with it because that is how you are. Don't get me wrong. Just learn to treat yourself like you are a child of God. We don't see children of the royal family in Britain stumbling on a bus at 2am because they drank too much. God is so much higher than any royal person on earth so we ought to behave even better than such.

If you realise that you are guilty of some of these things, repent and change today. Let people start loving you for who you are and not what you do or what you wear. You are worth more than gold. Start seeing yourself in that light. It's not easy to learn to love and respect yourself like that but gradual steps make it much easier. You will thank yourself one day, trust me.

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Corinthians 6:20

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day and bless those around you.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below.