James 2: 8 - 10 NKJV
I had the opportunity this week to experience the worst one man could offer. In the midst of one argument, I gained a insight into the heart of this individual. Enough for me to know that I would not like to know him in any sort of way. Such is the power of the words that we speak. Think abou it, how many times have we wounded others with what we say to them? James was spot on when he described a mans tongue as a unruly evil {James 2:8}. So, why is it that we continue to use our words as weapons against those around us? Well, for one thing, it's a defense mechanism. There may be shorfalls in our own life which we all too often place on others through our words we speak to them. I know a man who will spare nothing to tell others just how many mistakes they make. Well, it turns out that he himself does not feel too good about himself and his own life. His words to others somehow make him feel better about himself. For if he can bring someone else down, then he will feel better about himself. What a terrible way to live. I can remember a time in my own life when I was on the defensive when it came to what others said to me. I had such a low opinion of myself that I just naturally assumed that those around me felt that way as well. I walked through each day fully expecting someone to throw a insult or negative comment my way. Knowing this, I trained myself to respond to such people. Along the way I alienated more than a few people. Yes, it is indeed a useless way to live. How is it that I could see the what God was really trying His best to show me if I only saw negative intentions in others? The scriptures tell us that if we love God and yet hate our brother that we are liars {1 John 4:20}. Well, I didn't actually hate those around me, I just felt as if I already I knew how it is that they felt about me. It also turns out that most of the time I was dead wrong in those assumptions. I wasn't looking for the good, but the negative in people. I suppose it's easy to see how some people saw me as having a "edgy" personality. That was what they saw on a daily basis. I didn't want to be that guy.
1Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know bus, because it did not know Him. 2Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1 John 3: 1 - 2 NKJV
Take a look at the plethora of self help books out there on the capitalist market and see how many of them deal with how it is we see ourselves. From meditation to accupuncture, the cures for our negative self image often outnumber the causes. So, what is the underlying cause of our negative self image? Well, for me it narrowed down to not really knowing who I was inside. For all I knew, the real Scott was all that others around me told me that I was every day. I grew to HATE that guy! He was lazy, unfit and not too smart among other things. Mind you, this is the man that OTHER people told me that I was. What I had lost sight of is that this was not the man which God had created me to be. I was not created to live under the torture of the worlds identity. I was created for something more, we all were. Just as I don't hold a monopoly on negative self feelings, I haven't cornered the market on our Lords grace. All we need to do is to look at our Lords creation to see how highly He looks upon His children. We were created in His very image {Genesis 1:27}. He also breathed into us the breath of life {Genesis 2:7}. Does this sound as if God meant for us to live a life of self condemnation? Not only that, God thought so much of me that he put to death all of the sin which had come bewteen us. It is Christ Jesus who became sin on my behalf to spare me that penalty {2 Corinthians 5:21}. It is Jesus who lives through me today {Galations 2:20}. Knowing this in my heart, how is it that I can accept what others say about me? I'm not that guy anymore. I never have been! We could certainly save a lot of money on self help seminars and books if we simply accepted how it is that our heavenly Father sees us. We were never meant to live a life of self torture. What we were meant to do was to live a life in union with Him {John 17:23}. I'm sure that there are those out there who will continue to try to resurrect that which has died. I'm not that guy anymore...f@ck off!
21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17: 21 - 24 NKJV
~Scott~
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