Background Noise

3and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4: 3 - 6 NKJV

How much do we listen to those thoughts of those around us?  Not only thoughts, but those criticisms and cutting remarks which are often directed our way?  I work with a man who by all appearances is a good man, talking with others and seemingly with a good number of friends.  However, I've seen the other side of that coin as well.  I have been on the receiving end of more than a few comments that I would rather not repeat here.  Needless to say, I've been accused on more than a few occasions of being incapable of learning anything and of being dumber than a box of rocks among various other putdowns.  Now, I've been around many people in my life who simply would not have tolerated such abuse.  So why do I give an ear to this sometimes abusive coworker of mine?  Well, I decided some time ago that people such as him were doing nothing but providing background noise to this already busy life which I live.  Far from taking his comments as a indictment on who I truly am as a person, I have simply come to see them as I do the sound of a breeze or the traffic around me.  They have no bearing on who I truly am as a man...they're just there.  Some would call them distractions while others simply brush off the negative comments of others as not being important to the big scheme of things.  Both of these approaches may be correct.  However, far from discrediting my coworker, I see him as I am, a child of the living God.  The apostle John tells us in 1 John 4 that He who is in the hearts of those who have known Christ Jesus is greater than they who are in the world.  We are of God, little children.  However, this is tempered with the reality that we were ALL created in the image of our heavenly Father.  As christians, we do not hold a monopoly on being righteous, forgiven or saved.  For this is the free gift we have received from God Himself {Ephesians 2: 8-9}.  God has given the same breath of life to others around me as He has blessed me with.

43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47“And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Matthew 5: 43 - 47 NKJV

Bless those who persecute me, really?  I've often wondered to myself if God knew just what He has asked me to do so often in the pages of scripture.  Does He realize just what He is asking?  I mean, isn't there some modern day cultural thing that could somehow negate those things that my heavenly Father has asked of me?  Well, it's a good thought but...definately not.  For our Lord is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.  By Him all things were created which are seen and unseen.  Heck, even the culture differences from biblical times to our own have been introduced by our Lord.  There will never be ANYTHING which will ever come as a surprise to God.  Not only that, but everything indeed has a purpose in our Lords creation, there is no room for chance.  With this in mind, how is it that I as a Child of God can proclaim that the benefits of my Lords salvation belong to me alone?  Instead of looking for that wickedness in those around me, shouldn't I be spending more time looking into just how much alike we really are?  Oh how many conflicts could be avoided were we all to spend our lives in this pursuit.  Before I digress too much, this is one of the main reasons that I began to see those negative comments of others as more of background noise around me than of who I am as a person.  Indeed, knowing just who I am in Christ Jesus has gone a long way in this realization {Galations 2:20}.  Not only that, but it is with those around me in which I share that image of my heavenly Father {Genesis 1:27}.  When you think about it, we have more in common than we thought.

~Scott~