“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
If you have ever been the subject of gossip you know the pain and the shame which accompanies that revelation. The above verse underscores that Jesus also knew this misunderstanding and shame.
Yet while we often chose to wallow in humiliation, Jesus simply chose to scorn it, not accept it. We too, should realize we do not need to accept anything the world places upon us. We can choose to scorn the shame, and keep ourselves right with God, even when the world does not understand.
While we are mentally fighting back defending ourselves, our heavenly Father is reaching out to us, to ease the hurt and comfort us. Sometimes, in screaming our defense, we miss His soothing whispers of comfort.
A dear friend was once praying fervently, asking God to keep her from becoming prideful. She was at a crossroads in her life. A career dream she had pursued for more than a decade was just in reach. One desire she shared with her close friends was that her dream was for God and God alone. Although her work was bringing her into the limelight, she desperately wanted it all to be about God – not her. Over the weeks that followed her closest friends prayed for her to remain humble: to give all glory to God.
She confided that someone in her life seemed to have an uncanny ability to denounce and demean her efforts, no matter what she did. Unkind words were spoken to her face about her abilities, her appearance, and her shortcomings the other person perceived. Amazingly, at least to her prayer partners, she was not ready to whack her offender, as we all thought might well be deserved! Instead she humbled us all, by reminding us of her prayer request the past several months: her prayer to remain humble.
You see, she realized that the gift in those hate-filled words was that she did remain humble. And while she would have rather spent more time in prayer or had God use some other method, she allowed God to answer her prayer through words intended to scorn, to hurt, to intimidate. Instead of paralyzing her, halting her work, or causing an emotional breakdown, she allowed God to use those painful words to help her in her quest to combat pride.
All of us in her prayer group were stunned, and deeply humbled ourselves. Her story was yet another testimony of seeing Romans 8:28 in action. (And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28) God does use everything in our lives to bring about good! We need only to open our eyes to look for it.
Reflection:
1) Do I block out the many voicing vying for my attention, and listen solely to God, focused on His opinion of who I am?
2) Do I really believe the promise in Romans 8:28? Do I look for evidence of that promise in my daily life?
3) Am I ready for God to use anything to fulfill that promise?
Thank you all for reading, for “liking” this blog, and for forwarding it on to others. Please return on Monday, March 19, for the next post.