Hey, so God's had this on my heart for a few days now and has been adding to it every day I wake up with more to share. I'll cut to the chase. Everyone wants to be loved. No one actually enjoys being hated even if they say they do. It's part of our natural human nature to want to belong. To be part of something. After all we were created as social beings that long for and enjoy the company of others. You can read it for yourself in Genesis that God said "it's not good for man to be alone". He wasn't just talking about dating and marriage here either - He meant it universally and that's reinforced through the Bible and covered many times in many different areas such as "brotherly love" and "fellowship". Now what I wanna say is this - we all want to be loved and crave that belonging and worth but unless you get it met through the right source it all goes wrong very quickly. I've seen and met many girls that weren't loved and valued by their parents and especially their Dad so as a result of this 'love deficiency' they go from guy to guy trying to fill that empty void. Sadly it's only in vain as the guy can't ever fill that God shaped hole inside and the relationship suffers and often dies as a result.
The ensuing result is a disappointed girl with a broken heart who's now seeking love again.. and so the vicious cycle repeats itself. Now don't think guys are exempt from this either. As a guy that came from a very broken home myself I know the effects of not having that love and worth being inputted into you in those extremely important adolescent years. For a guy it's different to a girl though. Instead of seeking a person to fill that hole, us guys often try to fill it with things - cars, motorbikes, accomplishments etc. The end result is the same though - emptiness. What I wanna say plainly and clearly is this... I built a pretty big and decent castle out of the stuff I did and got in life and all it did was left me even more empty than when I started. Jesus came into my life at a time when everything was literally going to hell and stepped in a saved me and changed everything. Psalm 18 in the Bible describes very well what Jesus did when He came and answered my cries and rescued me. Everything you see, know or think of me now is the complete opposite of what I used to be. The few people I call loved ones that knew me back then would gladly testify of that and are also eternally thankful to God for doing what He did. Now, what I wanna also share is this...
When I was the 'old me' there was a fairly big group of people that really didn't like me. People would always make me feel like I never measured up, wasn't good enough, wasn't smart enough, wasn't tall enough - just not enough. I assumed that when Jesus came and did what He did and changed me into what I am now - a new creation of His mercy, grace and love - that people would automatically really love me now. It only made sense hey - I was really bad before full of horrible nasty addictions, a mouth that only spoke negative things pulling people down all the time and greedy hands that just seemed to always cause trouble and pain for myself and others. So now people would love me now that I'm not those thing anymore right? No... I'll be honest with you and say this straight. I've never been hated more in my life since Jesus did what He did. I learned that the few friends I had when I was what I was before actually got a kick out of me being the social outcast, the weak addicted guy full of pain and negativity. You see - in a weird twisted and nasty way it sorta made them feel a bit better about themselves when they looked at me. They thought "well, I don't have his problems and I'm doing him and favour reaching down to his level to help him".
They made these sentiments very very clear through their words and actions when I started opening my mouth about how good God is and what He did for me to save and help me. Long story short I got told to get back in my box and shut my mouth. God showed me that this type of talk and actions only comes from self righteousness and pride and not from a heart that follows God. One by one I distanced myself from these types of people and in turn drew much closer to God. Now before you pity me what I want to finish with is this. God gave me a gift, a very very valuable gift that so many I come across also need very badly. He gave me the ability to no longer care what people think. Not in a nasty "get stuffed I don't care what you think..." type of way but in a "your opinion of me is irrelevant because I hold to what God says of me far more than what anyone down here says, thinks or does to me...". Because of this gift I can forgive and move past what people think of me and continue to do and be what God says and wants me to be. There's a verse in the Bible that sums up what I'm saying perfectly in Galatians 1:10 "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant".
In a nutshell it's saying this "Your opinion of me is irrelevant because I only seek God's approval". So whether I'm loved or hated by thousands of people down here it really doesn't matter. God loves me and that's all that matters. I doesn't matter if the highest leader of the biggest church in the world says I'm dirty, useless and not good enough. Why? Because they're wrong. They're human just like me so their opinion is one that's on the same level as mine despite how much money or power they have. I'll go with what the absolute highest opinion says and there aint no higher place to go than to ask what God the Father says. And what does He say... He says in Romans 8:38-39 that NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can separate me from the love of God. No person, No angel, No creation, No distance... Not a single thing. So that's me now... loved. And there's nothing that anyone or any opinion can do to change or even assault that. Loved...Secure...Forever. So if you're like I was - looking for love, worth, value and meaning in life but finding you luck out every time... why not jump the queue and go right to the highest rank there is? The God that made all things and sent His Son to die and rise again for you. Seek Him and you will find Him and as a result you'll find far more than you ever imagined. God loves you.
The ensuing result is a disappointed girl with a broken heart who's now seeking love again.. and so the vicious cycle repeats itself. Now don't think guys are exempt from this either. As a guy that came from a very broken home myself I know the effects of not having that love and worth being inputted into you in those extremely important adolescent years. For a guy it's different to a girl though. Instead of seeking a person to fill that hole, us guys often try to fill it with things - cars, motorbikes, accomplishments etc. The end result is the same though - emptiness. What I wanna say plainly and clearly is this... I built a pretty big and decent castle out of the stuff I did and got in life and all it did was left me even more empty than when I started. Jesus came into my life at a time when everything was literally going to hell and stepped in a saved me and changed everything. Psalm 18 in the Bible describes very well what Jesus did when He came and answered my cries and rescued me. Everything you see, know or think of me now is the complete opposite of what I used to be. The few people I call loved ones that knew me back then would gladly testify of that and are also eternally thankful to God for doing what He did. Now, what I wanna also share is this...
When I was the 'old me' there was a fairly big group of people that really didn't like me. People would always make me feel like I never measured up, wasn't good enough, wasn't smart enough, wasn't tall enough - just not enough. I assumed that when Jesus came and did what He did and changed me into what I am now - a new creation of His mercy, grace and love - that people would automatically really love me now. It only made sense hey - I was really bad before full of horrible nasty addictions, a mouth that only spoke negative things pulling people down all the time and greedy hands that just seemed to always cause trouble and pain for myself and others. So now people would love me now that I'm not those thing anymore right? No... I'll be honest with you and say this straight. I've never been hated more in my life since Jesus did what He did. I learned that the few friends I had when I was what I was before actually got a kick out of me being the social outcast, the weak addicted guy full of pain and negativity. You see - in a weird twisted and nasty way it sorta made them feel a bit better about themselves when they looked at me. They thought "well, I don't have his problems and I'm doing him and favour reaching down to his level to help him".
They made these sentiments very very clear through their words and actions when I started opening my mouth about how good God is and what He did for me to save and help me. Long story short I got told to get back in my box and shut my mouth. God showed me that this type of talk and actions only comes from self righteousness and pride and not from a heart that follows God. One by one I distanced myself from these types of people and in turn drew much closer to God. Now before you pity me what I want to finish with is this. God gave me a gift, a very very valuable gift that so many I come across also need very badly. He gave me the ability to no longer care what people think. Not in a nasty "get stuffed I don't care what you think..." type of way but in a "your opinion of me is irrelevant because I hold to what God says of me far more than what anyone down here says, thinks or does to me...". Because of this gift I can forgive and move past what people think of me and continue to do and be what God says and wants me to be. There's a verse in the Bible that sums up what I'm saying perfectly in Galatians 1:10 "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant".
In a nutshell it's saying this "Your opinion of me is irrelevant because I only seek God's approval". So whether I'm loved or hated by thousands of people down here it really doesn't matter. God loves me and that's all that matters. I doesn't matter if the highest leader of the biggest church in the world says I'm dirty, useless and not good enough. Why? Because they're wrong. They're human just like me so their opinion is one that's on the same level as mine despite how much money or power they have. I'll go with what the absolute highest opinion says and there aint no higher place to go than to ask what God the Father says. And what does He say... He says in Romans 8:38-39 that NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can separate me from the love of God. No person, No angel, No creation, No distance... Not a single thing. So that's me now... loved. And there's nothing that anyone or any opinion can do to change or even assault that. Loved...Secure...Forever. So if you're like I was - looking for love, worth, value and meaning in life but finding you luck out every time... why not jump the queue and go right to the highest rank there is? The God that made all things and sent His Son to die and rise again for you. Seek Him and you will find Him and as a result you'll find far more than you ever imagined. God loves you.
