YOU BE YOU — WEEK 1

You Aren’t an Accident

Big Idea: You aren’t an accident. Primary Scripture: Psalm 139:13–16 Supporting Scripture: Ephesians 2:10; Jeremiah 1:5

CAPTURE

Picture this.

You open Spotify or Apple Music, and right there is a playlist waiting for you.

Discover Weekly. Daily Mix. Made For You.

And honestly? It’s usually pretty good.

But how does it know you so well?

It feels personal, but nobody actually sat down thinking about you. An algorithm looked at your data, noticed some patterns, and made some guesses.

Cassette Tape Illustration

Now imagine a world before streaming, when people made mixtapes.

You had to sit down with a cassette, choose every song, and hit record at exactly the right moment.

If somebody made you a mixtape, it meant something.

They were thinking about you.

Specifically.

Now take that idea much further.

What if someone thought about you with that kind of attention when they made… you?

Not your playlist.

You.

Today we’re starting a series called You Be You, and everything starts here:

You weren’t a random result.

You weren’t thrown together and hoped for the best.

You were made on purpose.

But does that always feel true?

Probably not.

Maybe there are things about yourself you wish were different.

Your appearance. Your family. The way your brain works. Your personality.

Maybe you look around and think everybody else seems smarter, funnier, more athletic, more confident, or more talented.

And when we say, “God made you on purpose,” we’re not saying everything in your life is perfect.

We live in a world affected by sin and brokenness. People hurt people. Families struggle. We make wrong choices. Even the way we see ourselves gets distorted.

But underneath all that brokenness is something sin cannot erase:

You bear the image of God. God loves you. And God’s grace is already reaching toward you.

About 3,000 years ago, David wrote about what it meant to be known by a God who was personally involved in making him.

SCRIPTURE

David’s life was complicated.

He was a shepherd, giant killer, and king.

But he also experienced fear, failure, guilt, and seasons where his life completely fell apart.

And David wrote:

Psalm 139:13–16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

· David is writing about being made, and the word he chose for how God made him is knit.

o Although people of all ages knit, there’s a reason we associate knitting with older people who have a little more time on their hands.

o It’s slow, unhurried, intentional work. One stitch at a time. The language of someone working carefully, patiently, on something that matters.

· He also said God watched him being formed in utter seclusion.

o Before David had a name, before his parents had announced anything, before anyone in the world knew he existed, God was already there. Already paying attention.

· Verse 16 takes it even further.

o Every day of David’s life was already written down before a single one of them had actually happened.

o That’s not just God being present at the beginning. That’s God being invested in the whole story before it started.

· Psalm 139 is a song, and songs in the Hebrew tradition were meant to be sung by the whole community.

o We’re not reading about David’s experience from a distance. We’re supposed to read this as our own.

· If God was that present and that intentional in making David… what does that mean for the person sitting where you’re sitting right now?

INSIGHTS

1. God knit you together on purpose.

A lot of us are fine with the idea that God made people in general.

But it’s harder to really believe:

God made me specifically.

David says God knit him together.

That word gives us a picture of something careful, intentional, and personal.

And that matters, because sometimes we look at the way we’re wired and assume something must be wrong with us.

But we all have different combinations and different strengths.

So maybe school doesn’t come easily to you, but you understand people incredibly well.

Maybe you learn best when you can move and actually do something.

Maybe you see things visually.

Maybe music connects with you in a way words don’t.

Maybe you ask questions nobody else thinks to ask.

Maybe you’re quiet, but you think deeply.

Hear this:

Different does not mean deficient.

Psalm 139:14 says:

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous.”

Some of us need to stop treating something God calls marvelous like it’s a mistake.

Now, that doesn’t mean everything about us is perfect.

It doesn’t mean we can say, “Well, that’s just how God made me,” as an excuse for sin, selfishness, anger, or hurting people.

Because God created you intentionally, and God is still forming you.

That’s where grace comes in.

In the Wesleyan tradition, we talk about prevenient grace—God’s grace that goes before us.

Before you knew God, He knew you.

Before you ever prayed, He was already reaching toward you.

Before you responded to Him, His grace was already drawing you.

So Psalm 139 isn’t just saying God was involved when you were born.

God has been involved in your story from the beginning, and His grace is still at work in you now.

2. You were made to reflect something bigger.

But there’s another important piece.

God didn’t make you uniquely just so you could spend your whole life saying:

“Look how unique I am.”

Your identity isn’t ultimately about celebrating yourself.

It’s about reflecting the God who made you.

Ephesians 2:10 says:

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Notice the movement there.

You are God’s masterpiece.

And you were created for a purpose.

So the question isn’t only:

“What am I good at?”

It’s:

“God, how can You use the way You made me?”

Maybe you’re people-smart because God can use you to notice somebody who feels invisible.

Maybe you’re word-smart because He can use your words to encourage people and speak truth.

Maybe you’re music-smart and God can use that gift in worship or to connect with others.

Maybe you’re body-smart and you serve best by getting your hands dirty and doing something.

Maybe you’re logic-smart and you can solve problems that help people.

Your wiring isn’t just something to admire.

It’s something to steward.

And that brings us to holiness.

Sometimes we hear the word holy and think it means becoming super religious or never making a mistake.

But John Wesley understood holiness primarily in terms of love.

Loving God with everything we are.

Loving other people the way Jesus does.

So God’s goal isn’t simply to make you the best possible version of you.

His goal is to make you more like Jesus.

Your personality matters.

Your gifts matter.

Your strengths matter.

But Jesus is the destination.

The Holy Spirit takes the person God created you to be and begins shaping every part of your life to reflect Christ.

That’s why this series isn’t:

“You be you, and nobody can tell you anything.”

It’s:

“Become the person God created you to be as you surrender your life to Jesus.”

And that changes the way we compare ourselves to other people.

Because comparison says:

“Why didn’t God make me like them?”

Why can’t I sing like them?

Why don’t I look like them?

Why am I not as outgoing?

Why don’t I make the grades they make?

Why can’t I play the sport like they can?

But you’re comparing God’s design for you with God’s design for somebody else.

A guitar isn’t a bad piano.

A point guard isn’t a bad center.

You don’t have to become somebody else for God to use you.

So maybe a prayer some of us need tonight is:

“God, I don’t have to be them. Help me become the person You created me to be.”

And there’s one more part of that we need to talk about.

Because if God really knows us that well—if He knows everything about us—that can actually feel a little scary.

3. Being fully known doesn’t have to be scary.

Most of us have a strong instinct to hide.

There are things about ourselves we're fine with everybody knowing.

And then there are other things.

Thoughts. Choices. Habits. Insecurities. Failures. Things we’re ashamed of.

And sometimes we wonder:

“If people really knew everything about me, would they still want me?”

Being fully seen can feel risky.

But Psalm 139 says God already knows.

David says earlier in the Psalm:

“You know what I am going to say even before I say it.”

God knows the whole story.

And centuries later, God said to Jeremiah:

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart…” —Jeremiah 1:5

So here’s what that means:

God isn’t surprised by you.

He doesn’t discover your sin when you confess it.

He doesn’t hear your prayer and say, “Whoa. I had no idea.”

He already knew.

And His grace was still reaching toward you.

That’s an important part of what we believe in the Wesleyan tradition.

God’s grace goes before us.

Before you ever chose God, God was already reaching toward you.

But His grace doesn’t force you.

You can respond.

You can resist.

You can surrender.

And when God shows you something in your life that needs to change, He isn’t doing that because He wants to shame you.

He does it because He loves you.

Grace doesn’t just forgive us. Grace changes us.

God doesn’t simply say, “I forgive you, now stay exactly as you are.”

Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, He can actually transform us.

He can reshape our desires.

He can change the way we treat people.

He can free us from sin.

He can teach us to love like Jesus.

That’s holiness.

And that’s why David ends Psalm 139 by praying:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart… Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Think about that.

David doesn’t run from being known.

He says:

“God, look even closer.”

Because he had discovered something:

Being fully known by God and fully loved by God are not opposites.

God knows you.

God loves you.

And God is still forming you.

ACTION

So what do we do with this?

1. Thank God for how He made you.

Think of one thing about the way God wired you that you’ve never really thanked Him for.

Maybe you love people.

Maybe you’re creative.

Maybe music connects with you deeply.

Maybe you ask a million questions.

Maybe you notice details.

Maybe you learn by doing.

Maybe you think deeply.

Maybe you’re the person others come to when they need someone to listen.

Something you’ve called weird might actually be part of your wiring.

And instead of constantly comparing it to somebody else, try saying:

“God, thank You for this.”

Not because you’re perfect.

But because you trust the One who made you.

2. Ask God how He wants to use it.

Ephesians 2:10 says:

“We are God’s masterpiece… created anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God didn’t give you gifts just so you could say, “Look what I’m good at.”

Your wiring is something to steward.

So ask:

“God, how can You use the way You made me to love You and love people?”

If you’re people-smart, maybe God wants to use you to notice the person everyone else ignores.

If you’re word-smart, maybe He can use your words to encourage somebody.

If you’re music-smart, maybe your music can point people toward Him.

If you’re body-smart, maybe you can serve, build, help, or lead through action.

Whatever the gift is, the goal isn’t just becoming impressive.

The goal is becoming more like Jesus.

3. Invite God into the part you’ve been hiding.

Maybe there’s an area where you’ve said:

“God can have everything except this.”

A habit.

A relationship.

Anger.

Insecurity.

A choice you know isn’t like Jesus.

Tonight, you don’t have to fix yourself before you come to God.

That’s what grace is for.

But you do have to respond.

Maybe your prayer is simply:

“Yes, God.”

Yes to Your grace.

Yes to Your forgiveness.

Yes to Your leadership.

Yes to Your Spirit changing me.

Yes to becoming more like Jesus.

CLOSING

Go back to the mixtape.

Someone sat there choosing each song.

There was thought behind it.

There was attention behind it.

There was a person behind it.

Psalm 139 gives us an even more powerful picture of God making you.

He was there.

Your personality.

Your mind.

The things you notice.

The things you care about.

The ways you connect.

The gifts you have.

God didn’t look at you and say:

“Oops.”

You’re not an accident.

But here’s the other side:

You’re not a finished product either.

The God who formed you is still forming you.

His grace was reaching toward you before you ever knew His name.

And His grace is still reaching toward you tonight.

Jesus doesn’t want to erase your personality and turn you into somebody else.

He wants to take everything He has given you and shape it into something that looks more and more like Him.

So maybe tonight the prayer isn’t just:

“God, help me like myself.”

Maybe it’s:

“God, thank You for making me. Thank You for loving me. Now make me more like Jesus.”

That’s holiness.

Not becoming a religious robot.

Not becoming somebody else.

But every part of your life increasingly filled with the love of God.

Your words.

Your relationships.

Your gifts.

Your choices.

Your future.

All of you belonging to all of Him.

So remember:

You aren’t an accident. You’re God’s workmanship. You’re the object of God’s grace. And God is still forming you into the person He created you to be.

PRAYER