Most people struggle with three critical issues in life: “Who am I?” “Do I matter?” and, “What’s my place in the world?”

The first question addresses the issue of identity – Who am I?

The second addresses the issue of importance – Do I really matter?

The third addresses the issue of impact – What’s my place in this world?

All of those critical questions are answered when you grasp God’s role in your very existence—if you’re still wondering, Jeremiah 1:2 reminds you that it was God who created you—and then get on with that purpose for which he created you. Obviously, if God thought it important enough to create you, he must have an amazing, one-of-a-kind plan for your life.

The Bible in general and this verse in particular have a great deal to say about this business of identity and importance and impact:

What is your identity? You are somebody God planned for before you were even born. He scheduled your life before you even began to breathe. That is who are you: Somebody who matters to God.

What about your importance? If it was God who “formed you in the womb” and even “knew you, before you were born”, the probability of your significance is around, well, 100%!

So what about the impact God has planned for your life? The Creator who divinely designed you did so with an eternal impact in mind for your one and only life. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10 that you are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.” Yes indeed, God has designed and built you for impact.

Even though you may not be a “prophet to the nations” like Jeremiah, God wants you to enjoy who you are and be confident in whom he has made you to be! When you do that, something powerful will begin to happen: God’s workmanship in you will be unveiled and the incredible impact he has planned for you will begin to be unleashed! You will increasingly appreciate your identity, you will begin to sense your importance, and you will start to make your impact!

And you’re going to make God smile, because you’re doing what he had in mind when he thought enough to create you!

“God makes no mistakes.” ~Karl Barth

Reflect and Apply: Romans 9:20 says, “The pot has no right to say to the potter: ‘Why did you make me this shape?’ A potter can do whatever he likes with the clay.” Quit trying to be somebody or something you are not. When you constantly compare yourself to others and conform to another’s vision for your life, you offend God.So accept what God has created in you; he likes it and you should, too.