How to Become the Best Version of Yourself

Is there some way you’re not living up to who you wish you were?

I just finished writing a book chapter about discovering The You You Have Always Been. It explains the necessity of seeing yourself from “the eyes of heaven” to enable the fullest awareness of that true self within you. 

Seeing who I truly am from God’s perspective has eluded me for decades. I had always been too preoccupied with what I thought I had to do to earn God’s attention. Today I’m realizing He’s always known and loved me even before my conception (Jeremiah 1:5). What He has always wanted is just an honest heartfelt attachment with me. 

King David knew the effectiveness and satisfaction of that kind of relationship, too—like being with your new girlfriend or talking to a best friend. That’s why when he sinned against God he wrote, “Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11 NLT). David wanted so much to be close to God, when he thought he was in jeopardy of losing that, he lamented about it in a song.  

I used to think David prayed that because he was afraid of being punished. Today I understand he prayed that because he didn’t want to lose the relationship. And from God’s perspective, that honest and heartfelt relationship is far more important than us trying to do everything right. 

When we focus our effort on our behavior, we are focusing on what we want and not on the relational interaction God wants. God would rather have us want Him to be with us, even when we act out terribly like David did, than to have us focus our effort on what we think we should do. 

Wanting Him and inviting His presence into whatever we are doing will have more of an effect on the behavior we want, and the discovery of the best version of ourselves, than us trying to do it on our own.