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It’s amazing to me how many many people are suffering emotionally in this world.
I recently looked at a tumblr and was stunned by the depth of the sadness that this person appears to feel.
Is everyone not ok? It seems like it. I don’t think this is something new… I think that it’s just now with facebook, twitter and tumblr (etc.) that we are able to see what has always been under the surface.
People are suffering.
And what does God have to say about the pain in this world? I think that is a fair question, don’t you? And it’s a question I would like to answer – from the bible.
My story
Let me take a moment to talk about me so you can see where I have come from – and its not too different from where that person is who wrote that Tumblr. If you read my post: What to do when you are feeling empty inside, you will know that I have felt those feelings.
I’m not proud of it, but I will admit that I’ve done many of the wrong things in order to try and make myself feel better. Drugs. Sex. Travel. Marriage. Religion. Worship. I’ve tried many things to try and fix myself. Yes I tried to fix myself using worship. It didn’t work.
As I’ve written many times in this blog, none of it worked. No, religion did NOT work. Get over it. :)
Emo
This outpouring of emotional sadness and low self esteem that people call “emo”. Is all this venting of sadness helpful? Is it healthy? Is it harmful to the person sharing it? Is it harmful to society to become aware of how awful so many people feel?
I think it’s honest. Emo is short for “emotions”. Emotions are not bad.
But when I look at that tumblr, I get a feeling that what pornography is to hurt men, this stuff might be for some hurt women. I think it may be an emotional trap that people – particularly women – can get caught into. It can be like an addiction. More. More. More.
Honesty is good. Being honest about how you feel inside and how you see yourself is a good thing. But in the emo culture there is no way out, no hope, no solution provided. Hip hop lyrics also expressed hopelessness, but it was a positive message of hope, that through hip hop things can get better. But the emo culture seems to have no hope at all. Some people seem to just wallow in sadness, making a home of sadness, making an identity out of it.
I think it’s great that people are honest and they express the depth of their need, but don’t make a lifestyle and an identity out of it. Let me explain why not.
Take a look at the image below. Is this lady below a monster? I know she says she feels like that, but look at her… IS she a monster? No.
Someone feeling empty inside and worthless... broken
Just because this person is admitting to how they feel, doesn’t mean that IS their value.
God’s advice to you
You see, while this world may not think much of you, I can tell you that God thinks a LOT about you.
This is God’s advice to you and me…
Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. – Rom 12:2
Religion tells you that God is angry with you. But the bible says this…
For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
While this world send you messages about your value as a woman or a man in a hundred tv adverts and billboard messages each day… all of them telling you that you need some medication, you need to be thinner, you need to be more in control, you need more money etc.
How thin is thin enough?
And all of that doesn’t help you, it just tells you that you are not ok as you are.
And we know we are not ok as we are. That’s the truth, isn’t it? Look at how many songs are called “Im not ok”. I did a search here http://www.elyrics.net/find.php for songs named “Im not ok” and found 3208. Wow.
But you know what? I’m not in denial about that. I know who I am when God isn’t holding me up. I’m an addicted mess. Without Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I would be right back where He found me… and even worse off by now. I’m a sinner, ungodly and an enemy of God… just as the bible says.
Do you want to change?
I wanted to change. And Jesus Christ has changed me. And God accepts me. And now I have His Holy Spirit with me, holding me up, healing me, guiding me, changing me.
Holy Spirit holding me up
When I listened to what the world around me says about me, I felt like sh*t.
NOW I believe what God says about me and I see potential and courage and dreams and hopes.
I have healed, I’ve changed. I’m stronger. I’m healthier. I’m a better man. I’m a better person.
In future I’ll be a better husband and a great dad.
What about you?
Through Jesus Christ, the bible says that you are the bride of Jesus Christ.
Do you know how men feel about their bride? Take a look at the man next time you are at a wedding. He can’t take his eyes off his bride!
The bible says that Jesus Christ sees His bride - that’s you and me – as beautiful.
He helps her dress in pure white clothing.
God says that His bride’s walls (her safety) is always before Him (in His thoughts).
Did you know that your name is written on God’s hand?
Yes, I have great worth in His eyes. You have great worth in His eyes.
It doesn’t matter to Him if you are not a Hollywood star or have never been on a magazine cover, but in the eyes of Jesus Christ, you are worth His life!
That’s why I have taken the time to write over 1,027 blog posts to try and explain that to everyone and so far 670,000 people have visited and I hope some of them have got the message.
Left to myself, my nature is awful. And it’s like this for most people. Let’s not kid around. LOOK at the world. Switch on your tv and watch the news! We rape, we fight, we are greedy, we grab oil and we loot cities and countries.
But when we come to Him, He redeems us, He shows us that we have value. He makes us His own children and shares what He has with us.
Jesus speaks lovingly about how God feels about the sparrows and the lilies of the field – and then He says to us that we are worth MUCH MORE than them!
Believe what He says!
Your life so far might have been awful. Perhaps people treated you like trash, like rubbish. Perhaps those who should have loved you, instead told you awful things about yourself. Their words should have given you warmth inside but instead it left you cold inside.
Don’t listen to them any more. Come to Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit as your helper… and begin to discover that God loves us and He sees the worth we have. And then learn that He wants us to see our own value. He wants us to believe the words He says about us.
God’s ways are not our ways
You might be wondering “what is He doing?” a lot of the time.
I will tell you what He is doing. Are you ready? Got a pen and a paper handy?
Here it is. Drum roll please.
- He is building a family for Himself – to be around for eternity.
- He is building a bride for His Son Jesus Christ - to be around for eternity.
- He is gathering the isolated sheep (who are lonely and vulnerable) back into the fold of sheep that are being loved and protected by Him.
- He is healing and cleaning up and bringing back to life the people who come to Him for help.
The bible confirms that we must take care of ourselves and take care of one another. We are all precious in His sight which why Paul prays that our eyes will become enlightened to see the potential that we have when we are united to Jesus Christ.
Do you know what happens? We become changed… we become God’s very own children! But yes, His ways are so different to our world and so different to what we have learned, that it can be quite confusing if we aren’t taught by people who have His heart.
He wants us to grow
The bible says that we can only love others in the measure that we love ourselves. Why is that? Because…
- If I have no regard for my own personal safety, then I will have no regard for your safety.
- If I do not care for my own emotions, I will not care for your emotions.
- If I do not see myself as precious in His eyes, I will not see you as precious in His eyes.
To take care of ourselves we might need to learn a LOT of new skills, for example what are good boundaries and how to place limits on other people’s behaviour. I share about this kind of thing in my post: Your personal bill of rights.
According to YOUR faith
If you come to Him, through His Son Jesus Christ, be prepared to learn and grow and change and heal. He won’t leave you as you are – broken, alone, sad. No. He will encourage you to make something of yourself. It happens slowly, at the pace set by YOU. So… fast… slow… you decide. It all depends on what you believe Jesus Christ has done for you.
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. – Matt 8:13
Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you” – Matt 9:29
Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment. – Matt 15:28
According to WHOSE faith? YOUR faith. And don’t worry, you might not have much faith, but with the help of the Holy Spirit that can and will change. I am a living testimony to the power of God working through one person’s faith. He did it through me, He can do it through you.
God is perfect and Jesus Christ said on the cross “it is finished”. Now it’s us who have the speed limit in our faith – and God sent the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Not pride
My writing is NOT to encourage self-idolatry or pride. In fact I doubt that anyone reading this blog has that problem. Instead the bible says…
think of yourself with sober judgment - Rom 12:4
and that is what I am encouraging. Sober judgement… not too high and not too low.
Not too high, not too low
Think of yourself with sober judgement… not too highly (proud, pompous) and not too lowly (worthless, devalued, hopeless).
Believe!
You know what you can and can’t do in your own strength. Now let’s see what you can do through the power of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross and through His Holy Spirit within you.
Believe what God says He can make out of you.
Believe what Jesus Christ said when He walked this earth. Believe the kind things that the Holy Spirit says about your potential when He whispers to you.
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