Is your perception of me merely a reflection of you?

“They think you are stuck up.”  

The words of a friend cut through me like a searing knife. 

“They said you snubbed them when you walked by.” 

She was talking about a group of girls from the opposing team we were playing at a high school basketball game in 1976. I walked by the group while on my way to the concession stand. The thing was—I didn’t snub them. I was actually completely intimidated by them, so I kept my eyes on the path directly in front of me, trying my best not to trip over my fear.

Our perceptions of others, we learn, are not always reality. Perceptions can be biased, often skewed by factors such as our background, culture, past experiences, misinformation, attitudes and even emotions, and are often the very reflection of our own messed-up selves.

"We see the world, not as it is, but as we are." -- Talmud

Rags to Riches

The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom of the 60s and early 70s, and a family favorite during my childhood days, was a “rags to riches” sort of show of a poor backwoods family who strike it rich when “Pa”, the Clampett family patriarch discovers oil—black gold, Texas tea—while hunting for mealtime provisions. 

Kinfolk of the Clampetts then urged the family to pack up their belongings and move to California, where they could reside in a large mansion in the Beverly Hills district; a dwelling more befitting their newfound wealth.

The show was a comedic combination of poverty and affluence, and the unsophisticated with the refined as the Clampetts maintained their simpleton lifestyle while having access to millions. It made for amusing entertainment.

When Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus, he sought to encourage them to recognize the spiritual wealth they had “in Christ”. They were spiritually rich beyond measure but had been living as beggars—spiritual paupers—because of their ignorance of all that was available to them in Christ.

We do the same. 

Many believers today live as beggars, spiritual paupers, and victims of their past because of the same reason: they are not aware of the great wealth they have in Christ. They walk around in the old garments of spiritual poverty—content in their old ways.

Paul writes:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. 

In all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:3-14 NASB)

God has given everything we need to live the victorious Christian life. He predestined this great mystery before the foundation of the earth and before you were formed in your mother’s womb. From the days of old, everything took place in its proper order so that this mystery might be revealed to us according to the glory of His grace.

The love and kindness of God intended that we have adoption, acceptance, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, inheritance, the seal of the Holy Spirit, life, grace, and citizenship—in short, every spiritual blessing. We have all the resources needed for living a victorious Christian life.

Father God, help me to fully grasp the truth of Your word in Eph. 1 that I may know and receive every spiritual blessing for me. Open my eyes and my heart to see what I need to lay down in order to fill up with an abundance of Your blessings to live a victorious life in You, that others may know that You are the One True God, in Jesus' name, amen.  

"All our righteous acts are like filthy rags".  Is. 64:6 

Healing the Wounded Heart (A Prayer)

Father God,

Though so many of us try to hide it with a smile, we know that inside we are broken and bruised, wounded by issues of long ago and left unchecked. We are the walking wounded plagued by feelings of hurt, neglect, abuse and abandonment. Many of us have attempted to find relief by our own methods but instead found ourselves feeling even emptier, even spiraling into depression. 

We learn that sins of omission (neglect, abandonment, etc.) are just as damaging to the soul as the sins of commission. Emotional wounds become so deeply embedded that it begins to feel "normal", setting ourselves up to continue to cycle.

Infection extends into relationships and marriage like a virus, spreading a new strain of sin-saturated remnants stained by years of buried emotions. Deep-seeded anger follows closely, while anger’s close companion, bitterness, begins to rot the soul and distressing the body.(Heb. 12:15)

But, You, O God, desire healing for Your children, (Ps. 147:3)  and are greater than all of our hurts, all of our neglect, all of our abandonment, and all of our rejection. You are more than able to comfort us in all our afflictions. (2 Cor. 1:4) You lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. (Ps. 23:3) You desire righteousness for us, Father, (Matt. 5:6) for sin and righteousness cannot coexist.

Thank you for revealing Your righteousness to us, bringing light to darkness and exposing areas of sin in our lives. Thank you for walking with us through the valleys of past hurts, (Ps. 23: 4) not to revisit our pain, but to reveal Your healing through our forgiveness. (Matt. 6:12) Lack of forgiveness is sin, creating ugly and festering wounds in our lives in which all the perfumes of religious activities cannot remove, but only superficially mask. (Romans 8:6)

Your mercy and grace, O God, and Your forgiveness completely remove the deep underlying roots of the disease of our souls, as Jesus Christ, the Balm of Gilead, brings restoration and healing to the wounded heart. You restore us to the joy of Your salvation, Father, granting us a willing spirit to sustain us. (Ps. 51:12, Ps. 149:4) Your compassion and mercy reveal the hurts of those who have hurt us, helping us to understand their own pain. Hurt people often hurt people. Thank you for helping us to forgive as You have forgiven us.

Your Word tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:19) You bring us out of the midst of sin, (Col. 1:13) and desire for us to touch only that which is clean, and nothing that is unclean. (2 Cor. 6:17) You are my Father, God, and I am your daughter/son. Blessed be the name of the Lord, in all the earth. (Ps. 72:19)

Thank you Father, for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and Light of the world, (John 8:12) Who shines the light of righteousness into the dark corners of our lives (2 Sam. 22:29) revealing those things You desire to remove as You lead us in Your paths of righteousness. Thank you for Your forgiveness as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

State of the Heart Address: From the Word of God

(Mouse over scripture links for full verse. May not work on mobile devices) 

Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you, today and always. ( John 20:19)

The more things change; the more things stay the same. (Eccl. 3:15) Nothing takes Me by surprise. (Is. 46:10)

I know the times are difficult, and there are times you feel like giving up, but I will show up and take care of you as I promised. (Heb. 13:5) I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. (Jer. 29:11)