Too Soon To Give Up
Have you ever Skyped someone or sent a video message and found yourself carefully cropping and editing just what you wanted them to see in the picture? Pretty soon someone will invent an app that only shows what’s in the background.
Who hasn’t been there? We edit and crop stuff we don’t like about ourselves and try and show a constant smiley face to the world. Well, you’re in good company. Almost everyone’s in a battle to control thoughts and ultimately actions. A blogger on one of my favorite sites, “People of The Second Chance” puts it this way:
“It is often said a man is his worst critic. But I think the truer statement is this: a man is his own bully. All day long under the yoke of comparison and shame, we speak cruelties to ourselves.
“You really blew that!”
“Why are you even here? No one even cares.”
“That’s a stupid idea.”
“You look horrible today. What a mess!”
That’s not criticism. It’s flat out injury. It is not a loving correction; it is verbal MMA cage fight. Tiny little sucker punches all day long. Jab. Jab. Knock out!
If we bully ourselves long enough, whether out loud or in our head, we willfully drain out every last ounce of confidence, love and hope with words that eat away at the way we actually see ourselves.
It’s time to kick the bully out of your head. It is time to call the browbeaten by name… even if it is your name.” ~ Scott Pace
There’s an enemy that doesn’t want you winning this fight. Paul says, “Our battles are not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and rulers in this dark world.” Jesus conquered sin, death and the grave, and that means in Him we can too. 2 Corinthians 2:14 states, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” Romans 8:37 says, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” A new popular chorus I’ve been singing declares, “My one defense, my righteousness, O God how I need You.”
Fight back with the Word today. Be set free through the Word. Be healed by the Word, and for goodness sake, trust in Jesus to empower you to live by the Word. Don’t Give Up.
There’s no place like Hope,
Stefan