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| How Many Layers Do You Have? |
Have you ever had a word just come into your mind... This week the word that stuck in my head - and I don't even know WHERE I got it, so it must be God whispering in my ear - was the word, 'Character."
I thought about myself, I thought about my life... CHARACTER... I'm still chewing on it... And am letting God take His time in revealing to me... Well, ME.
There are so many "layers" of who we are. I don't know about you - but I find I am finding out new things about myself almost daily. Still trying to discover just "who" I am. Growth is a process and I believe that God will continue revealing things to us about ourselves until the day we go and be with Him. I think we are always changing, discovering, growing... I am not the same person I was ten years ago. Are you? The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 16:7 "For the Lord sees not as a man sees: Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
I'm so glad... God looks at the heart. I think about how many people I "formed" in my head opinions of. I've learned through my stretch of being a prodigal that although we need to be "gently restored" it is up to God to do the judging. Why do we do the things we do? We automatically take what little knowledge we have of people and form our own opinion of "who they are." We can't do that. The picture is not complete. We only know what we know - but God sees it all! What is there about you that needs changing? Have you asked God to help you change it? Have you given yourself time to understand why you feel that part of you needs changing? We can be so hard on ourselves sometimes... I've had a lot of time to be able to think about this myself. And I came to the decision that I need to spend more time with the Creator. Because the truth is - He knows me better than I KNOW me. Also, I think as long as we are open to allowing Him to change the things in us that He wants to change - it will happen. Not perhaps in "our time" but in His. I didn't become a Christian until I was 21 years old. That is 21 years of formation in my life prior to my knowing Jesus as my Lord and Savior. There is no perfect family. Parents make mistakes, we make wrong decisions - and things happen that make us the person that we have become. However, the good news is that God is a patient God. That He is a loving God. That we can come before Him, trust Him, be honest with Him and have Him restore anything that needs to be restored within us. I'm so thankful for that.
Maybe we need to be kinder to those we "think we know." Maybe we should be less judgmental and more willing to understand. Even those that hurt us. I think there are times when we need to step back and try to get a bigger look at our situations. Ask God for understanding. Ask God for wisdom. Ask God to help you to be more like Him. Isn't that what we are suppose to be doing as we go through our walks anyways?
Sometimes the person we are cruelest to - is ourselves... The Bible tells us in John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
I've been thinking a lot about this... Maybe we need to go back into our Bible's and see the example that Jesus set for us - in loving others.. And not only apply it how we love others - but also, how we love ourselves...
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