Joel Osteen - The True You
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Joel Osteen teaches that deep inside every person is the «true you"—a blessed, confident, valuable masterpiece created by God in awe, and despite life’s mistakes, hurts, and flaws, God never loses sight of this true self and keeps chiseling away everything unlike it until the victorious, free, and destined you fully emerges.
The Masterpiece God Created
I want to talk to you today about The True You. On the inside of every one of us is a blessed person, someone confident, valuable, talented, disciplined. The Scripture says, «You have been fearfully and wonderfully made.» The word «fearful» in the original language means to stand in awe, to reverence. It implies honor, respect.
God Stood in Awe of You
When God created you He stood back in reverence. He looked at you in awe. He calls you a masterpiece. God did not make anyone average. He did not say, «I did not do very good on that one. They have a bunch of flaws. They are going to be angry, insecure, jealous, impatient.» No, you have been exceptionally made. You are one of a kind.
But what happens is we go through life and we make mistakes. We develop bad habits. People do us wrong. Shame comes. Guilt comes. Insecurity. We do not feel like a masterpiece. We feel condemned, not valuable. «How can I be successful? Look at how I was raised.» Or «I am struggling with an addiction. Not that talented. I do not have a good personality.»
The True You Is Still There
But underneath the insecurity, the bad breaks, the failures, there is the true you, the one God created. The true you is the blessed you, the happy you, the successful you, the forgiving you, the confident you. It is still in you. The beauty of our God is He never loses the vision of the true you.
God Remembers His Masterpiece
He still remembers the reverence He felt when He created you. Despite all the flaws, weaknesses, disappointments, He still sees the masterpiece. He still knows who you really are.
But life tries to put all these things on us to keep the true you from coming out: impatience, jealousy, compromise, bad breaks. The good news is God is not going to leave us like that. He is going to keep working on us, making us, molding us until the true you comes out: the free you, the blessed you, the patient you, the victorious you.
God Removes What’s Not You
God specializes in removing everything that is not the true you.
«Well, Joel, I will always struggle with this addiction. I have had it since high school. It is just who I am.» Well, that is not who you are. That is something the enemy put on you to try to keep the true you from ever coming out. The true you is free. The true you is whole. The true you is clean.
Freedom Is Coming!
That addiction is not how your story ends. God is working right now. Freedom is coming. Chains are breaking. Strongholds are coming down. You are about to see the free you. You are about to step up to who you were created to be. The forces that are for you are greater than any forces that are trying to stop you.
I am calling out the free you, the blessed you, the happy you, the favored you. Now, get in agreement with God. Not, «I will always struggle with this,» but «I am free. I am healthy. I am whole.»
See the Victorious You
You need to see the free you, not the defeated you, the depressed you, the hurt you. See the happy you, the successful you, the married you, the valuable you.
You may have gone through bad breaks. Someone walked out on you. You were not raised in a good environment. It is easy to carry those hurts, let it limit your vision, carry the shame, go around feeling unworthy like you do not deserve to be blessed.
Don’t Believe the Enemy’s Lies
Do not believe those lies. The enemy would love for you to live discouraged, no passion, thinking nothing good is in your future. No, the true you is still in you. The happy you, the restored you, the valuable you.
What people did to you did not stop the true you. What was not fair did not change who God created you to be. He is in the process right now of removing everything that is not the true you.
Breaking Generational Cycles
The anger is not the true you. «Joel, I am just hot-tempered. I have always been this way. My father was this way. My grandfather.» No, that is not who you really are. It may be that way now, but you are the one to break the cycle. You are the one to see it come to an end.
The Calm You Is Emerging
The true you is calm, cool, and collected. The true you is peaceful, loving, and kind. Do not believe those lies that you cannot change. God is removing everything that is not the true you. He loves you too much to leave you alone. He is going to keep working on you until He sees the masterpiece, who He created you to be.
Michelangelo’s Vision of David
In the early 1500s a young artist named Michelangelo had a dream to sculpt King David out of a huge piece of marble, a twelve-thousand-pound block that stood over twenty feet tall. He worked tirelessly for two years, chiseling and shaping with great precision and great detail.
When he finished, he revealed this 14-foot-tall marble image of David. It was magnificent, so beautiful and so inspiring. Someone asked Michelangelo how he could accomplish such a feat, how he could make this amazing statue out of an old piece of rock. He said, «I had a vision in my mind of King David, and I just kept removing everything that was not him.»
God’s Chisel at Work
That is the way God is. He knows who we really are. He can see the masterpiece in the rock. Throughout life He will keep removing things that are not who we are: the impatience, the insecurity, the unworthiness.
«I am not valuable. Look at what I have been through"—chisel, chisel, that is not who you are. «The pride, the arrogance"—chisel, chisel, that does not belong on you.
Let God Remove the Resentment
«The unforgiveness, the resentment—they hurt me, they did me wrong"—chisel, chisel, that resentment is not a part of who you are. «I will never do anything great, Joel. Nobody in my family is successful. I am not that talented"—chisel, chisel.
That limited mindset, that mediocrity does not belong on you. It may come try to distort your image, affect your personality, limit your future. The good news is: we have someone far greater than Michelangelo working on us.
The Creator Is Your Artist
We have the Creator of the universe, the God who makes spectacular solar systems, magnificent mountain ranges, amazing sunsets. That is the artist that is working on you. He is chiseling away everything that is not the true you. He can see things that we cannot see.
So often we let our circumstances determine who we are, how people treat us determine our value, how well we perform determine our worth, what someone said determine our self-image.
God Sees Beyond Your Flaws
God looks beyond all that. Like in the Scripture with David, He sees the giant killer in the shepherd boy. Like with Gideon, He sees a mighty hero in a man that is hiding, afraid, intimidated. Like with Rahab, He sees a respectful, honored woman that is in the family line of Jesus in a former prostitute.
God knows what is in you.
The Redeemed You Awaits
You may have made mistakes, done things you are not proud of—God sees the redeemed you, the restored you, the honored you. You may be intimidated, insecure, thinking you are not that talented—God sees the giant killer. He sees the history maker in you.
Or maybe life has thrown you curves. You have been hurt, abandoned, betrayed—God sees the valuable you, the blessed you, the favored you.
Nothing Changes the True You
Nothing that has happened to you has changed the true you. God looks beyond our mistakes, our flaws, the bad breaks, the hurts, and He sees who He created you to be. He has not lost the vision of who you are.
The good news is: He still has the chisel. He still knows what to remove so the best you will come out—the talented you, the confident you, the loving you, the free you.
The Chisel Can Be Uncomfortable
Now, sometimes when God chisels it is uncomfortable. We do not like it. «I do not want to bite my tongue. I do not want to overlook the offense. I want to tell them off.» Be pliable. Work with God. Let Him remove the hardness that is keeping you from going to new levels.
Driving to work you get in traffic. You are delayed. Construction on the freeway. Some jerk—I mean some person—cut you off. You will be tempted to get upset, offended, let it sour your day.
Opportunities to Grow
Recognize what is happening: that is God chiseling away the impatience. He is giving you an opportunity to grow. The impatient you will try to keep the true you from coming out.
Or at the office, you are not getting the credit. You are being overlooked. People are taking your ideas. You could live offended, trying to get revenge, pay them back.
Let God Fight Your Battles
No, let God be your vindicator. Let Him fight your battles. He sees what is happening. He knows it is not fair. He has the chisel out. You think it is about them, but really it is about you. That is an opportunity to show God that you trust Him, that you will stay in peace, not let people steal your joy.
Sometimes God will remove things we do not understand: remove a friendship, someone that is pulling us down, causing us to compromise. We do not like change. We were comfortable. Now we are going to have to stretch and grow.
Don’t Fight the Chisel
Do not fight the chisel. God knows what He is doing. He is not going to leave something on you that will keep you from your purpose. He will never ask you to do something and then not give you the ability to do it.
If He is asking you to walk away, you know a season is coming to an end—that is the chisel at work. If you are stubborn, you fight it, you try to hold on, you are going to miss the greater things God has in store.
Better Things Are Coming
He is not trying to take something from you. He is trying to get something better to you. He wants to bring out the true you. The true you is more blessed, more fulfilled, more successful than you can imagine.
When God Closes a Door
A friend of mine worked at this company for over 20 years. He is the nicest person in the world, always kind, respectful, going the extra mile. He called me one day and said, «Joel, I just got fired from my job. They said I did not have a good attitude. They were letting me go.»
I almost fell out of my chair. That would be like Mother Teresa getting fired. I could not believe it.
Pushed Into Your Destiny
But sometimes God will close a door because we are stagnant. If He did not push us into our destiny, the true you would never come out. We do not realize there is so much more in us—gifts, talents, potential.
God will chisel away things that are keeping you from your greatness. Sometimes they are good things, but they are not the best. Trust Him when you do not understand. He will not remove something unless He has something better coming.
From Fired to Dream Job
He will not use the chisel if it is not going to make you better. It may hurt at the time. It may be uncomfortable, but God knows what He is doing.
About six months later my friend called so excited. He just got a dream job, a position running this large company, managing all these people. He said, «I never knew this was in me. I never dreamed I could be this successful, this fulfilled.»
Let God Remove the Blocks
Let God remove what He knows is keeping you from the true you. Unforgiveness is keeping you from shining. Insecurity, compromise, anger—that is blocking the best you from coming out.
Work with God. Be willing to change. You do not have to be perfect, but we should be growing. We should be better than we were five years ago.
Signs You’re Growing
We should be kinder, more respectful, a better attitude. We should be more confident, more secure. We should forgive quicker, overlook offenses easier. We should compromise less, resist the temptation more.
That means we are letting the chisel chip away things that are hindering our growth. We are seeing more of the true you coming out.
The Flawed Marble Others Rejected
What is interesting is in that large piece of rock that Michelangelo carved the statue of David out of, 50 years earlier two of the most accomplished artists of that time—these very well-known sculptors—looked at the rock and said there was no way they could work with it. It had too many flaws, too many imperfections.
They were given the chance first, but they turned it down because the marble had too many blemishes, too many defects. They were convinced that it could never stand strong, never be turned into something significant.
God Sees the Masterpiece
Yet, 50 years later young Michelangelo came along. He saw the same block of marble, the same defects, the same flaws, but he looked beyond the imperfections. He said, «I see a masterpiece in this rock. I see King David in that marble.»
Like those first two artists, other people may look at you and think, «They will never amount to much. Look at their failures, their weaknesses. They struggle with an addiction. They are hot-tempered.»
People Will Discount You
Or «Man, look what they have been through—the bad breaks, the disappointments.» All they see is your flaws, your blemishes, what has not worked out. They will discount you, write you off.
Then like Michelangelo did, God comes along. He says, «Hey, wait a minute. Do not abandon that piece of rock. Yes, I see flaws. Yes, I see weaknesses. But I see something else: I see a masterpiece. I see a blessed, strong, anointed, forgiven, favored child of the Most High God.»
God Knows How to Remove Flaws
It is not that God does not see the flaws, but He knows how to remove the flaws. He knows how to make you and mold you to where the best you comes out.
Quit believing the lies that you have made too many mistakes, you are too far off course. You see yourself as the failed you, the broken you, the guilty you, the disadvantaged you.
Mercy Bigger Than Mistakes
No, nothing you have done has stopped your destiny. The mercy of God is bigger than any mistake that you have made. The true you is still in you—the blessed you, the faithful you, the honored you, the righteous you.
How Jesus Saw Peter
In the Scripture Peter was out fishing one morning, bringing his boat close to the shore. And Jesus came walking by and said, «Peter, come and follow Me. I am going to make you a fisher of men.»
Peter had never met Jesus, never had a conversation with Him, yet Jesus called him by name. Can you imagine how surprised Peter was? «How does this man know my name? I know who He is—He is that teacher everyone is talking about—yet He called me Peter.»
God Knows Your Name
God knows your name. He is the one that created you. He is the one that calls you a masterpiece. «Not me, Joel. I am not a religious person"—neither was Peter. He did not have any kind of faith. He was not refined, respected, looked up to. He was a fisherman. He used bad language. He was hot-tempered, impulsive. He would tell you what he thought.
Yet God chose him to be His disciple, one of the 12 that would change the world.
From Simon to Rock
Out of all the people God could have chosen He did not choose a religious leader. He did not choose a priest in the synagogue. He did not choose the mayor of the city. He chose Peter.
He already knew that Peter would deny Him three times. He already knew Peter would fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus needed him the most. He already knew Peter was hot-tempered, that he would curse, that he would cut off the soldier’s ear.
God Calls the True You
Why would Jesus choose someone like this? Because God looks beyond the flaws, the mistakes, the weaknesses, and He sees the masterpiece in the rock. He sees what we can become. He has not lost His vision of the true you—how He made you before you were formed in your mother’s womb, before the bad breaks, before the failures, before the brokenness.
Jesus looked at Peter and said, «You are Simon, but you shall be called Peter.» Simon represents shifting sand—being unstable, inconsistent—but Peter is literally translated rock.
Upon This Rock
Jesus was telling him who the true you was. At one point Jesus said (Matthew 16:18), «You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church.»
When Jesus said that, Peter was anything but a rock. He was unreliable, hot-tempered. Yet God called out the true you, the faithful you.
The True Peter Emerged
It did not happen overnight, but God kept chiseling away Peter’s weaknesses—chiseling away the hot temper, chiseling away the inconsistency.
When the church was starting in the Book of Acts, they needed someone to give the inaugural address, this prominent position. Who did they choose? Peter.
But now it was not the impulsive Peter, the inconsistent Peter, the denied-Jesus Peter. This was the rock. This was the true Peter—the faithful Peter, the strong Peter, the powerful Peter.
Don’t Focus on Who You Are Now
What am I saying? Do not get discouraged because of who you are right now. God still has His chisel. He is still removing things that are limiting your destiny.
You have not seen your best days. The rock is still in you—the successful you, the holy you, the disciplined you, the favored you.
Tune Out the Naysayers
Like those two artists that saw the slab of marble but said it is unstable, it has too many flaws, there will always be people that try to discount you, tell you what you cannot become, how you are not talented enough, you have made too many mistakes.
Do not let them talk you out of becoming the true you. The good news is: they are not your artist. They do not have the chisel. You are not dependent on what they think, what they can do. Your sculptor is the Most High God. He has not lost His vision of the true you.
From Poverty to World-Changer
My father was raised very poor. His family were farmers and they lost everything during the Great Depression. His mother made 10 cents an hour washing people’s clothes. There were times they did not have money for food. He had to drop out of high school to work on the farm.
At 17 years old Daddy gave his life to Christ—the first one in his family. He felt this calling to become a minister. He had no money, no education, no training, but he told his parents he was going to leave the farm and go out and start ministering.
Parents Saw Only Limitations
They said, «John, you do not know how to minister. You are going to get out there and fail. You better stay here on the farm with us.» They loved their son, but they could only see the limited John, the poor John, the defeated John.
They looked at that marble, so to speak, and thought, «Nothing good can come out of that. Look at all the flaws, the deficiencies, the imperfections.»
If he would have believed who they said he was, he would have never fulfilled his destiny.
You Are Who God Says
People cannot see what God put in you. Do not let their negative words limit your life. Tune it out: you are not who people say you are. You are who God says you are.
He says you are a masterpiece. He says you have greatness in you. He says you are destined to leave your mark.
God Removed the Poverty Mindset
But my father grew up with this limited mindset, this poverty mentality. All he had seen was struggle, lack, mediocrity. But we serve a God who has a chisel.
He does not let how you were raised, what you did not get, the odds being against you keep you from your purpose. Little by little God removed that poverty mindset. He chiseled away the inferiority—not good enough, never make a difference.
My father rose up against all odds and he did great things. He pastored great churches, founded Lakewood, impacted the whole world.
A World-Changer Was Inside
In that poor, disadvantaged, not-educated 17-year-old man was a world-changer, a history maker. If you only knew what was in you.
The true you is not limited by your environment. The true you is not dependent on what other people think about you. The true you is not at a disadvantage because you have flaws and weaknesses.
New Day, New Freedom
The enemy would love for us to go through life feeling inferior, focused on our weaknesses, weighed down with regrets, guilty from past mistakes, condemned, ashamed.
But what the enemy put on you, God is about to take off of you. This is a new day. The chisel is at work.
From Broken to Beautiful
He is chiseling away wrong mindsets, chiseling away negative words people have spoken over you, chiseling away guilt and shame, chiseling away hurts, brokenness, and offense.
You are about to step into a new level of your destiny. The true you is about to come out—the blessed you, the free you, the confident you, the victorious you.
Desiree’s Incredible Story
I know a young lady that was raised in a very dysfunctional home. Seven years old, the police showed up at her house and told her to put her belongings in a trash bag. She was going to spend the night somewhere else.
She grabbed her pajamas, her toothbrush, and rushed out. She was taken to a shelter. Her mother and stepfather were arrested for child abuse. She had never met her biological father.
From Orphan to Adopted
Eventually she was turned over to him, but that was not any better. He was on drugs, in and out of jail. She became very angry. She could not understand why no one would love her.
She got to the point where she built up walls so she did not have to feel. She became numb to the pain. She did not feel happy, sad, depressed—she felt nothing.
At 16 years old she moved out on her own—broken, hurting, lonely.
God Became Her Father
By the grace of God she showed up at Lakewood. She heard us talking about how God is our Heavenly Father, that He has good things in store for us, how He will give us beauty for the ashes.
She had never felt that love before. She had never had anyone speak faith and victory into her and tell her who she really was.
One day she gave her life to Christ. She said, «I realized I was no longer an orphan. I was adopted by my Heavenly Father.»
God Pays Back the Unfair
The right people began to show up. Doors began to open. Today that young woman, Desiree—right here on the front row—she is on our staff. A beautiful girl. She has the smile, the joy, the victory.
Here is what I have learned: God will not leave you at a deficit. What you did not get, what was not fair, what you feel robbed of—God is going to make it up to you. He is going to pay you back for the unfair things.
The Masterpiece Underneath
But if you would have seen Desiree years ago, you would have seen the broken you, the ashamed you, the hurt you, the lonely you. All these things the enemy had put on her to try to keep her from her destiny.
But underneath the shame, the anger, the rejection was the masterpiece. There was this beautiful, confident, radiant, talented young woman.
This Day Shame Is Removed
Maybe like her you are carrying shame, hurts, brokenness. Life has put you at a disadvantage.
God said in Joshua 5:9, «This day I am removing the shame from My people.» This day God is breaking chains. This day strongholds are coming down. This day things that have hindered you are being chiseled away.
God Works in Private
Through my eyes of faith I can see the true you—the blessed you, the free you, the restored you, the joyful you. I see the masterpiece God created you to be.
The two years that Michelangelo worked on sculpting David, he did it all in private. He would not let anyone come in. When he finished, he revealed it to the public. Now 500 million people have seen it in person.
You think about that old piece of rock with flaws and weaknesses—other artists said was not useful—yet it has been seen by half a billion people.
Your Time to Shine Is Coming
Listen, when God is working on you, chiseling away what is not necessary, often He will do it in private. He will keep you hidden, not noticed.
But when it is your time, when God says you are ready, He will cause you to be seen. You will become a trophy of His grace.
Where people think, «Was not that the old rock that had flaws? Was not that the fisherman—now he is up there leading? Is not that the young boy from the Great Depression—now he is a pastor? Was not she abandoned by her parents? And look at her now.»
The True You Is Emerging!
God is going to cause you to shine, to be an example of what He can do despite imperfections, despite what life throws your way.
You may have some things that are limiting you now. Do not worry—God still has the chisel. He is still working on you.
I believe and declare: the true you is about to come out. What is holding you back is being broken. The shame is being removed. You are about to step into favor, freedom, restoration, and become the masterpiece God created you to be, in Jesus' name.
And if you receive it, can you say amen? Amen.