Right now you don’t believe that you have value and you’ve filled your mind with self-doubt. Theologies, philosophies, this and that, these claw at your very soul and in that you tear at yourself and punch at yourself because you just don’t measure up … to yourself. I see you. Actually, I don’t physically see you because you’re hiding yourself, but I see you.
You say I can’t. You say I just don’t know. You say I don’t understand. Can’t understand. You call yourself a piece of shit. You say I have no idea what you’ve done.
I know what I need to know, nothing more do I need, because this is what I know …
Saul, before he became Paul, persecuted Christians – holding the robes of those who stoned Stephen to death for his belief.
Jonah, filled with disgust for those God wanted to save, fled from the Lord.
Elijah was consumed with depression and hid in the hills/mountains/desert.
Thomas doubted that Christ was who he said he was.
David took another man’s wife to bed and then had her husband killed.
Moses swore he could never voice God’s words and tried to argue with God.
Adam and Eve … well, they were hard-headed and wanted to do things their own way.
Moses – also cursed a rock because it didn’t supply the miracle fast enough.
David also danced in the streets in his underwear.
Abraham lied in fear for his life – told the King that Sarah was his sister not his wife.
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and lied and said he was dead.
Jeremiah lived a life of depression – woe is me to the max. You think you’re depression is bad … He even wrote a book we have in the Bible called Lamentations.
Abraham also doubted God and took his wife’s hand-maid to bed to produce an heir
Jacob disguised himself as his brother and lied to his elderly father about his identity to receive the inheritance blessing … at his mother’s urging nonetheless.
Samson hung out with less than reputable characters – namely women like Delilah.
Peter denied Christ three times in the garden.
Mary Magdalene was a prostitute
Noah got naked drunk – his sons uncovered him and laughed ..
Rahab was a prostitute.
Tamar caused her father-in-law to impregnate her.
Jepthah made a rash vow to God and lost his daughter.
Matthew was a tax collector and Zacchaeus was a tax collector – both of them – money grubbers.
And examples from Scripture of flawed men and women go on and on … none of us is perfect. All of us are P.O.S.’s apart from the saving Grace of God. That’s the key. And that is what you in your pursuit of high and lofty theological ideals need to understand … grace. Mercy. Favor bestowed when wrath is owed. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. All. Not just you. Me too.
We all are looked on by the same God with the same love … just as he loved all of the folks listed above. Despite their failings, each one of those listed here GOD used – look them up. Read their stories. Reading the Word is not something you’ve attacked just yet, though you’ve read the great religious thinkers and philosophers. That’s great and all, but I challenge you to read of Moses, Joshua, Abraham, Noah. Read about Rahab, Ruth, Esther. Read about Ezekiel, Gideon, Deborah. Read about the woman caught in the act of adultery. Read the story of Job. Read Isaiah. Learn about Hosea and Gomer. They are all a part of the story woven into the threads and fabric of the good news God chose to share with this abominable humanity that roams the earth … to declare His love and His mercy for this flawed and sinful human race … to whom He gave, because of His unconditional love, the ability to choose.
I say all of this to say one thing …. You are valuable.
You are good. You are created. You are loved.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Oh … and here are a few more I found …. those good ol’ humans who’ve gone on before. Taken from http://www.sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/ron-forseth-20-messed-up-bible-heroes-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them-1613.asp
Adam, the first man, was a blame shifter who couldn’t resist peer pressure. (Genesis 3:12)Eve, the first woman, couldn’t control her appetite and, should we say, had the first eating disorder? (Genesis 3:6)
Cain, the first born human being, murdered his brother. (Genesis 4:8)
Noah, the last righteous man on earth at the time, was a drunk who slept in the nude. (Genesis 9:20-21)
Abraham, the forefather of faith, let other men walk off with his wife on two different occasions. (Genesis 12 and 20)
Sarah, the most gorgeous woman by popular opinion, let her husband sleep with another woman and then hated her for it. (Genesis 16)
Lot, who lost his father early in life, had a serious problem with choosing the wrong company. (Genesis 18-20)
Job, supposedly a contemporary of Abraham and the epitome of faith, suffered from the nagging of a faithless wife. (Job 2:9)
Isaac, who was nearly killed by his father, talked his wife into concealing their marriage. (Genesis 26)
Rebekah, the first “mail order bride,” turned out to be a rather manipulative wife. (Genesis 27)
Jacob, who out-wrestled God, was pretty much a pathological deceiver. (Genesis 25, 27, 30)
Rachel, who wrote the book on love at first sight, was a nomadic kleptomaniac. (Genesis 31:19)
Reuben, the pride and firstborn of Jacob, was a pervert who slept with his father’s concubine. (Genesis 35:21)
Moses, the humblest man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:13), had a very serious problem with his temper. (Exodus 2, 32:19; Numbers 20:11)
Aaron, who watched Jehovah triumph over Pharaoh, formed an abominable idol during an apparent episode of attention deficit disorder or perhaps colossal amnesia. (Exodus 32)
Miriam, the songwriter, had sibling jealousy and a greed for power. (Numbers 12)
Samson, who put Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura to shame, was hopelessly enmeshed with a disloyal wife—and ended up taking his own life. (Judges 16)
Eli, who ruled over Israel, was a hopelessly incapable father who lost his sons to immorality—and to an untimely death. (1 Samuel 2, 4)
Saul, the first and powerful king of Israel, was apparently a psychotic with manic bursts of anger, episodes of deep depression and traces of paranoia, too. He committed suicide. (1 Samuel 16, 18, 19, 31)
David, the friend of God, concealed his adultery with a murder. (2 Samuel 11)
Solomon, the wisest man in the world, was arguably the world’s greatest sex addict with 1,000 sexual partners. (1 Kings 11)
With rare exception, all the kings that followed Solomon had mammoth issues in their lives.
Hosea, an incredibly forgiving man, grappled with the pain of a wife who could be described as a nymphomaniac.
The prophets, even as they spoke for God, struggled with impurity, depression, unfaithful spouses and broken families.
So, yeah.
Love you.
You’re alright.
I promise.
We’re all screwed up … so there’s that. It’s awesome. You’re cool. I’m cool. We’re all here to love and be loved.
Lenazy's Life 