Matthew 5:11-12
“Not only that—count yourselves
blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies
about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close
for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that
happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all
heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and
witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
When I was in junior high,
one of our teachers took a few students to Little Rock for some sort of
meeting one Saturday. After the meeting, we went to a movie (I think we
saw “Love Story”) and then we did some shopping. On the way home, a
couple of the girls and I were in the back seat of the car, and they
were whispering and peeking into their shopping bag. I asked what they
were whispering about, and they “played dumb”. Finally, one of them
said, “You cannot say anything...but we stole these bathing suits.”
Each one of them had “lifted” a swimsuit from a well-known department
store.
Here’s the thing...those girls did not want to include me
in their “secret”, because they knew that I would not approve of their
theft. They made this abundantly clear with some of their comments and
the tone with which they delivered them. In fact, the only reason that
they were having anything to do with me at all was because we were
crammed together in the backseat of our teacher’s car!
Quite
frankly, there were quite a few kids who didn’t want anything to do with
me and some of my friends during junior high and high school, because
they knew that we attended church regularly. Whether we were full-out
“Jesus freaks” or not, we were judge to be “uncool” and seen as
“goody-two-shoes” types. The fact that our parents made us go to church
all the time was irrelevant. Some of us who actually participated
regularly in church activities were even ostracized by a few of the kids
who attended our church with us, but were less involved. There was
definitely a “hierarchy”, based on what others perceived to be our level
of faith and involvement with Jesus and the church!
Even today,
this is often a tough road for young people to hoe. And I think that is
why some of them go in such a totally different direction once they get
out of high school and/or go off to college. Maybe this describes you. I
know I was like this, to some degree. When I no longer felt I had to
attend church twice on Sundays and some Wednesday nights, I didn’t
go...at all. I still read my Bible and prayed. But I didn’t do a whole
lot to give others any opportunity to put me down or throw me out of
their “circle” because of my faith!
I’ll be really honest
here...I don’t regret that time in my life. Here’s why... I believe
that God used this season where I shrunk into the woodwork and tried to
blend in to grow my faith. When I “emerged” as an adult and developed a
full-fledged, all-in relationship with Jesus, it was that much sweeter.
I felt the applause of heaven...I no longer cared whether I was “in” or
not...there was only ONE I longed to please...and His name was Jesus.
In the years that I have been more fully engaged in a communion with
Christ and His Holy Spirit, there have been as many – or maybe more –
times that I have felt like an outsider...times when I have been put
down or “thrown out”, both literally and figuratively.
But now,
I look at these incidents in a completely different light. The “sting”
of rejection and ridicule is not there – at least not so heavily. The
sense that I am doing what God desires trumps any insults or
indignations that might be hurled my way. I sometimes have to remind
myself that...”It’s okay...I did what God asked of me, so all will be
well.” And I am human...nobody likes to be insulted or excluded...so I
do occasionally get my feelings hurt a little. But all I have to do is
spend some time with God, and He steers me in the right direction and
sets me back on my feet. He’s like that...wise, kind, merciful and
gracious!
I don’t know where you are in your journey. I don’t
know what rocks of insult and indignation have been hurled in your
direction...or how you have handled them. But I do know this...God will
not waste your obedience and faithfulness. He wants you to be kind,
generous, loving, merciful and gracious toward others – even when they
treat you poorly. But He wants you to always operate in the truth, and
to faithfully do and say the things that you know He is sanctioning. It
may hurt for a little while in the human sense, but I assure you, God
is beyond pleased. He makes a mental note for all eternity that on this
day and in this way, you honored Him in your words and actions...and He
will bless you for this decision.
I did not “rat out” my
friends. I was a teenager eager to please and unwilling to risk being
ostracized any further. And while I certainly do not condone theft in
any manner, these kids grew into responsible, honorable adults. It was a
childhood prank...albeit a dishonest one. As adults, at least a few of
them have developed a rapport with me and a respect for my faith that
was not there when we were young... and maybe that is in part due to my
mercy toward them in this situation.
In her book The Best Yes*,
author/speaker Lysa TerKeurst says that there are no perfect
decisions...there will be positives and negatives to every choice. She
maintains that “when you desire to please God with a decision, and
afterwards it proves to be a mistake, it’s an error...not an end.” She
adds, “If I am trusting myself, I will stare at all the possible ways I
could fail. If I’m trusting God, I will stare at all the possible ways
He’ll use this whether I fail or succeed. As long as you desire to
please God with your decisions, no decision you make will be completely
awful...nor will any decision be completely awesome. There is no
perfect decision – only the perfectly surrendered decision to press
through our fears and know that God is working in us to bring about good
through us.”
What are you afraid of today? Where have you stood
paralyzed with fear and inaction because you didn’t want to be judged,
put down or thrown out? Isn’t it time we started trusting God to get us
past these things... to make a way where we see none...to shield us out
of His abundant love, grace, mercy, compassion – and joy – for our
obedience and faith? Whose company are you keeping these days...that of
the “in crowd”...or the company of God’s prophets and witnesses?
©2014 Debbie Robus
*The Best Yes
- ©2014 by TerKeurst Foundation – published by Nelson Books. Available
at Walmart and other major retailers. www.thebestyes.com #TheBestYes
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