Seriously, why do we buy the lies?

The topic for this post is based on the sheer realization of a common human occurrence, the lesson based on God's truth. What may you ask is this human occurrence? It's our longing for approval, our struggle for perfection. I'm a teenage girl, so fact is, I've had my fair share of exposure to this sort of thing. This crazy concept really grabbed my attention recently however. I ran into, yes another quote. This one I found while scrolling through a devotions app on my phone. Arthur Schopenhauer says this: "We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves to be like other people." I at first kinda skipped over this quote, being one of the many great Christian ones, but quickly returned to ponder it. I proceeded to read it a few more times, denying how close to home it really was hitting. Now I have admit, I saved that quote with the intent of facebooking it at some point, but soon came to realization that God was using that very same quote to get through to me. In the past I have always tried to achieve the best grades, be the perfect child, keep the sharpest appearance...and well, as you might have guessed, failed numerous times. This is obvious due to the simple fact that I'm human. As most of us hate to admit, we can not, under any circumstance, achieve perfection. We can work until we drop, walk on egg shells around our peers, lose enough weight, wear the right clothes, drive the nicest cars, or make the most money; and yes, while all those things can be nice, they consequently leave us empty. We naturally have a void in our lives, one that more often than not, is attempted to be filled with something worldly. Let's face it, our society preaches that if we can just reach that ideal balance between fame, wealth, and appearance, then we'll be on top. There is a constant craving for perfection, a longing to fill that mysterious space. This brings be back to my original question...'seriously why do we buy the lies?' I assess this problem as a spiritual one, and I'm most definitely speaking from experience. What some people don't quite get is that there a clear straight forward answer...one word...God! When you turn to Him feeling empty, He is there to fill that void. Money problems? Trust Him and He will bless you beyond belief. Not achieving the success you want? Hand that worry over to Him and you'll be given all the power you need. Struggling with not looking or behaving just 'right'? Run to the Lord and He will love you for you. There's s great Christian song where JJ Heller sings 'who will love me for me, not for what I have done or what I will become, who will love me for me, cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means.' That song speaks loudly about God's love as it describes various situations where the world has left these people empty. It ends by saying how God will be there for them regardless and love them for themselves. Every time that song plays on K-love, I get an overwhelming feeling of Jesus Christ's acceptance of me. Even the strongest of individuals have self doubt, whether openly expressed or not. Sometimes I just don't feel good enough. That's when my thoughts can go one of two ways. Firstly, I can see the negatives; my hair is straight enough, my stomach isn't flat enough, I haven't been tough enough, or I haven't made my parents proud enough. The second option, although a lot harder, is to say "Whaaaa?! What am I doing! Satan, you have no hold on me. God made me in His image. I was created to look the way I do, act the way I act, and achieve the things that He has  predestined for me." Yeah...number two is a better choice in my opinion! Rub it into the devil that God created me, superior to anything He could ever do. Genesis 1:27 reassures us of this, 'God created human beings, He created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. he created them male and female.' So here's my advice to you, next time you are feeling inadequate, say to yourself, I was created in God's image, I was made for a specific purpose, I look a certain way, I will achieve distinctive things and all this according to my Lord and Savior's almighty plan and timing.