After enduring ridicule for as long as I can remember, I became convinced at a very young age that I was never going to amount to anything and finally I just gave up trying. The only thing I seemed to excel in was being a bad boy, so I embraced it. It led to alcoholism, drug addiction, violent antisocial criminal behavior, bitterness and hatred which led to even lower self-esteem and abject failure in every area of my life. It was no small wonder that I wanted to die and was strongly considering suicide as a viable solution to ending my pain.
Hmmm . . . Low self-esteem can be debilitating. Often it’s brought on by well-meaning people who tear down in an effort to build up.
I’ve been guilty of it myself. I have several friends who are overweight. I encourage them to lose weight by derisively referring to them as fat hogs, beached whales, manatees, and/or asking if they are wearing expando pants or relaxed fit jeans.
I don’t know of a single case where my strategy of demeaning someone for being overweight actually motivated them to exercise and get on a sensible diet. Don’t know why I continue with it other than I’m an idiot.
Legalistic religious fanatics often misplace their love in similar manner. Once when I was about 20 years old I was walking through Jackson Square located in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. I had long hair below my shoulders and was wearing dark sunglasses with hat pulled down low. I was walking fast and just minding my own business when this street preacher, who was standing on a crate screaming and thumping his Bible, pointed at me and shouted, “If you don’t change your ways, you’re going to hell”.
I looked around and saw that he was talking to me. I calmly walked over to him and hit him as hard as I could right in the mouth knocking him off his crate, sprawling him on the concrete sidewalk. Then I pulled my gun out, cocked it, and pointed it right between his blue eyes and snarled through gritted teeth, “If you ever say that to me again I’ll kill you!”
He doesn’t know how lucky he was that in my drug crazed sociopathic state of mind, I didn’t pull the trigger.
That street preacher didn’t know me or my heart, and I didn’t know him. As far as he knew I might have been a preacher myself, or undercover cop and deacon in a church. His assumption and judgmental conduct very nearly got him killed. Even if he was right about me following a path that was leading me straight to hell, (and he was), he had entirely the wrong approach to achieve his goal of encouraging me to accept Christ as my Savior.
If he’d said, “Hey brother – You hungry? How about you and I having a cup of red beans and rice together and let me tell you some good news about a friend of mine, His name is Jesus Christ”
Hmmm . . . There just might have been an entirely different outcome had he tried that approach. I truly loved red beans and rice and was probably hungry that day. I just might have listened to his spiel about Jesus had he offered me a hot meal and perhaps some sweet tea to go with it.
God thought of us before He created the world. We weren’t procreated like a bunch of spawning fish. We were carefully and lovingly created with deliberation to serve God’s purpose. The Bible has plenty of Scripture to back this statement up.
Psalm 139:13-16
For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
To tell the truth I never thought of myself as “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I like it.
God also offers a promise of hope, safety, and a prosperous future for His children.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Just think of it, God endowed us with all the ability, looks, charm, intellect, physical stamina, skills, et al that we need in order to accomplish His purpose for our lives. He is delighted with His work and in fact after we receive Christ the Bible tells us that we become His “masterpiece”.
Eph. 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Holy Buckets! I never thought of myself as a masterpiece. That’s a far cry from being a beached whale.
I encourage you today to encourage others. Don’t try to build up by tearing down. Only idiots like me do that. Jesus would never do it and neither should we. I especially ask you to encourage your kids today. They are struggling to make it in a competitive world that can be cruel, especially to those who aren’t considered by their peers to be one of the “beautiful people” and are probably being bullied.
Just think about the Spirit of God hovering over the “deep”, fondly thinking of you. That’s right YOU! God chose us before He ever created the world. Just remember that God is aware of all of our needs; He knows our fears; He understands our frustrations; even the very hairs on our heads are numbered, and He has promised that you and I are going to turn out just fine and things are ultimately going to work out for the good for all of us who love Him and call upon His name.
Enjoy your day today and don’t let anyone tell you that you are anything but God’s masterpiece. If you have tormentors just smile and pray that God will remove their idiocy. Don’t smack them in the mouth and pull a gun on them, buy them some red beans and rice and sweet tea and encourage them to be encouragers. Love all serve all . . .
Eph. 1:4
For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday!