• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Christian Concepts

Bringing your Potential to Light

  • Start Here
  • Insights
  • About
  • Subscribe

self-acceptance

How To Overcome Negativity

How To Overcome Negativity

February 1, 2020 by Matt Pavlik Leave a Comment

Reading time: 3 minutes

Do you struggle with negativity? That can happen when too many difficult events take place without enough positive ones to overcome them.

Think back to a significant, life-changing moment–one that filled you with hope and purpose. What made it so transformational? Chances are, it had something to do with accepting yourself the way God made you. Seeing yourself through God’s wise, loving eyes changes everything.

These moments don’t happen every day, but you can take steps toward one today. How do you know when you are ready for growth?

You might notice negativity building up—feeling weighed down, discouraged, or emotionally disconnected. Being unable to experience joy is a sign of spiritual sickness. Are you often pessimistic? Do you feel unwanted or rejected? Does it seem like a cloud of gloom follows you wherever you go?

Negativity Should Not Be Normal

Negativity becomes a serious problem when it starts to feel like your default state. While you won’t feel amazing every day, it’s important not to accept negativity as part of your identity. You don’t “just have a negative personality”—negativity isn’t permanent. It’s a weight you weren’t meant to carry.

People have blind spots, and that’s normal—only God sees everything. But just because you don’t notice certain harmful thought patterns doesn’t mean you have to stay stuck in them. You can develop greater self-awareness.

Could you be so familiar with negativity that you don’t even realize it’s affecting you? When a negative bias goes unchecked, it can distort your perspective, making discouragement feel normal. I’ve done it, and I’m guessing you have too.

Jesus wants you to be free from unnecessary burdens. If you’re carrying something that serves no purpose—something blocking you from the life He intends—you need to let it go.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

Jesus offers rest, but often we continue carrying weights He never asked us to bear. Immediately after these verses, Matthew 12 describes how the Pharisees burdened people with unnecessary rules. Jesus made it clear—He doesn’t want you weighed down by man-made expectations.

Ask yourself: What rules, requirements, and burdens am I carrying unnecessarily?

God wants us to be anxious for nothing. Acceptance is the antidote to worry. When you accept God for who He is and yourself for who He made you to be, you unlock the ability to love others the way He calls you to.

Self-acceptance is twofold—it means rejecting who you aren’t while embracing who you are.

Practical Steps to Heal Negativity

To break free from negativity, start by interrupting harmful thought cycles with truth. Negativity thrives when it goes unchallenged, so speak affirmations rooted in Scripture, such as “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

Engage in activities that bring joy and renewal—whether it’s taking a walk, connecting with a supportive friend, or journaling about God’s faithfulness. Most importantly, surrender your burdens through prayer, asking God to reveal and lift the weight you’ve been carrying.

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight—it begins with small, intentional choices that gradually shift your mindset. When you align your thoughts with faith, hope, and God’s unconditional love, negativity loses its grip.

If you want to dig deeper into this, work through my book Confident Identity: Christian Strategies to Forget Who You Aren’t and Discover Who You Really Are. Or, see below for another post about self-acceptance.

Learn more about self-acceptance
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Last updated 20250504

Filed Under: Identity, Self-Image Tagged With: self-acceptance

Find and Accept Your Authentic Self

Find And Accept Your Authentic Self

July 6, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 2 Comments

Reading time: 3 minutes

If you’re unable to accept yourself, you’re likely missing out on joy. To maximize joy you must appreciate both God and yourself. How can a person worship God but hate himself? How can a person like herself but hate God? The two must go together to maximize enjoyment of life.

How to Reject Your Authentic Self

God created you as you are for a specific reason. Life’s bumps and bruises can deceive you into believing you are someone more or less than you are. If you are not gifted athletically (or some other enviable ability) but compare yourself to those who are, you’ll always come up short and feel less than.

Have you ever tried something and felt inadequate? Or maybe someone told you that you didn’t measure up? If you can walk away understanding, “this isn’t for me,” then you have a healthy perspective. If you conclude that you are defective, you are making it personal, which isn’t helpful.

Are you measuring yourself with the right ruler? God measures you by His original design. Everything else will give you a faulty or inaccurate measurement. But more than that, you’ll feel miserable because there is no way for you to win.

Proverbs 11:1 declares that God detests deception in dealings with others. How can you deal honestly with others if you don’t first deal honestly with your value?

The Lord detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

Proverbs 11:1 NLT

Are you weighing your value with honest scales? Romans 12:3 communicates the same idea.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:3 ESV

It’s possible to think you accept yourself when you don’t. It’s possible to live with the heavy burden of trying to be who you think God wants you to be. But that can be different than who God knows you to be.

Are you living with an uncomfortable tension of always pushing yourself to reach some ever-elusive goal? If so, you’re never going to reach self-acceptance. You can’t perform your way to acceptance.

How to Discover Your Authentic Self

God’s acceptance is free for His children. Even though we don’t have to work for our value, we must learn our value by who God made us to be.

Below are 7 questions to help you assess how well you know yourself and how consistently you present yourself. Answer the first 3 questions to determine your self-image (how you see and value yourself), the second 3 questions to define how you feel obligated to act to fulfill life’s demands (how others see and value you), and the seventh question to consider God’s perspective (how He sees and values you).

  1. The thing I like most about myself is…
  2. I’m at my best when I contribute…
  3. I feel most connected to God when I…
  4. Others appreciate me for…
  5. My job requires me to…
  6. I feel like a fish out of water when I…

The final seventh question is this: Describe yourself as God sees you through His loving, creative eyes. Be specific. Generate your answer from your heart. Provide a detailed answer related to how uniquely God created you. Now, compare your answers between all the questions. How consistent (or inconsistent) are you?

How to Accept Your Authentic Self

Imagine what it would be like if your self-image, your presented-image, and God’s-image all described the same person. You would act the same way across all different areas of your life, according to God’s design for you. That’s self-acceptance.

Is self-acceptance clear to you? Are you amazed by God’s goodness that He created you to enjoy Him and enjoy who He made you to be? If not, what seems to be holding you back from the joy of authenticity?

Learn more about worship and joy.
Image by Janine Bolon from Pixabay
Last updated 2025/03/02

Filed Under: Identity, Self-Care Tagged With: self-acceptance

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • 9 Experiences That Drain Hope
  • Adjust Perspective For Peace And Joy
  • Marital Unity Leaves A Rich Legacy
  • 3 Reasons To Trust God Today
  • Faith Is Assurance

Recent Comments

  • Finance on 9 Experiences That Drain Hope
  • 9 Experiences That Drain Hope - Christian Concepts on Claim Full Assurance Of Hope
  • Forgiveness Opens The Heart To Miraculous Healing - Christian Concepts on Forgiveness
  • Does Our All Powerful God Need Us? - Christian Concepts on Worship God With Genuine Joy
  • Adjust Perspective For Peace And Joy - Christian Concepts on The Secret to Finding Rest Amidst Tragedy

Topics

  • Abuse and Neglect
  • Betrayal
  • Boundaries
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Core Longings
  • Counseling
  • Dating to Find a Mate
  • Emotional Honesty
  • Eternal Security
  • God's Kingdom
  • Healing
  • Identity
  • Marriage
  • Self-Care
  • Self-Image
  • Spiritual Formation

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • September 2017
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • February 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

© 2003–2025 · New Reflections Counseling, Inc. · Christian Concepts Publishing · Privacy Policy