It doesn’t matter where you look on social media these days, we are always being bombarded with ads that promise to help us “be your best self” or “live your best life”. If you google either one of these statements you will see a list of programs, books, and motivational quotes all designed to guide you in becoming the best you can be and reaching your full potential. The premise is that if you have the right job, diet hard enough, work out hard enough, and meditate long enough, you will transform your body and mind into something better than it was before you began your chosen course of action.
All of this sounds good on the surface. Who wouldn’t want to transform themselves this way? Don’t we all want to be the best we can be?
The thing is, our lives are not ours to transform. When we start to believe we can rely on our own selves to improve what we consider to be our imperfections, we take away our reliance on God’s transformational power in our lives. Yes, we can and should make choices that impact our lives in a positive way but the purpose is so that we can live the life God has chosen for us.
First Corinthians 6:19 tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that, “You are not your own.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Our bodies are not our own and we need a spiritual transformation to live the life that God has chosen for us. All the physical and mental transforming we attempt to accomplish on our own is useless if we do not allow God to also transform us spiritually to be more and more like Him.
Our lives are not our own. We don’t have the final say in who or what we become. God has plans for each of us that are so much greater than anything we could imagine and work out for ourselves. It’s not wrong to want to improve ourselves and we certainly play a role in making healthy choices in our lives, but we can never be truly changed without acknowledging and relying on God’s transformational power in our lives.
Another trip to the gym, another self-help book, another inspirational quote – none of these have the transformational power of relying on God and trusting Him to make us into the person that He wants us to be.
In 1 Peter 5:7 we are admonished to cast all our worries on God, because He cares for us. He has us in His hands and we can rely on Him. We don’t need to be our best selves, we need to be the women that God wants us to be. Our best life is the one that God calls us to live out based on His perfect plans for each of us.