Faith – Page 2

I gave you my best and you just walked all over me!?!

Man o man, haven’t we all been here at least once in our lives? It truly hurts my heart to see people give something so precious only for it to be unappreciated. I don’t think that we consciously decide to give our best to someone who doesn’t care. But somewhere along the way, we forget to check out who is on the receiving end.

It seems like more and more I am hearing stories about broken hearts and unmet expectations. Both women and men giving their very best in relationships only for it not to be appreciated or reciprocated. Instead of returning all of the special effort, they just take and take with so much as an empty thank you… if you get one at all. Or how about that job. Yeah, the job. You spend more of your time at work than you do anywhere else, give your very best and more, only to have more work piled on your desk and told that you need to do more! You start to feel like, maybe I’m just not good enough. Maybe I’m not pretty enough or handsome enough, smart enough, fast enough. Maybe, my best isn’t enough. Enough! YOU ARE ENOUGH!

YOU ARE ENOUGH!

As I thought about this, in my life and in the lives of others, I was reminded of a scripture. “Don’t give holy things to dogs, and don’t throw your pearls in front of pigs. They will stomp on the pearls, then turn around and attack you.” -Matthew 7:6 CEB

Just before this verse, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was instructing the crowd about judging others and not to be a hypocrite. ‘First get rid of the log in our own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye’ (Matthew 7:5). But then, Jesus shows us the difference between judgement and discernment (spiritual direction and understanding). The very next thing He says is, “Don’t give holy things to dogs, and don’t throw your pearls in front of pigs. They will stomp on the pearls, then turn around and attack you.” He uses dogs and pigs to describe people who will mock and dismiss the Word of God.

Even though there will be people who will mock and dismiss the Word, doesn’t mean we should stop telling it. If they don’t receive what you have to say, leave…and shake the dust off (Matthew 10:14). Move on. We are held accountable for sharing the Word; they are held accountable to how they respond.

In that same way, we should still be prepared to share our best… Be loving and kind, funny, caring, thoughtful etc. Be you. And use discernment when looking at who is on the receiving end. And if they mock you and show you who they are…MOVE ON. You cannot make someone accept your best. A pig cannot appreciate a pearl.

A pig cannot appreciate a pearl.

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. 1 Peter 1:13a NLT

Self- control can sometimes be difficult to achieve; but in preparation for just about any situation, the task seems so doable. “I’m going to stick to my diet this time!” “When they are mean to me, I’m just going to be nice and not say anything hurtful.” “On my drive to work, I will listen to my Jesus music and remain calm the whole way.” Seems pretty doable, right? Riiiiight. It’s when we get caught off guard that our self-control is put to the test. We have ahold of it for a little while, perhaps a few months, weeks, days or even hours or minutes…and then one little thing pops up and BOOM we “lose it”. We fall off our diet, get road rage, yell at that person, spend the money we have been saving etc. etc. It’s a constant struggle for many of us, myself included. But there is hope!

When I look at the Fruits of the Spirit (meaning what is produced by God’s Spirit), I feel like self-control is so important because in many cases it directly affects the other fruits. Says Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Self-control helps me be kind to someone who’s mean to me. I can say no, I don’t have to do what I really want to do.

Our fleshly-man (our sinful nature) is constantly battling our spirit-man (God’s nature) (Galatians 5:17) and unfortunately, sometimes our fleshly-man wins. But don’t be discouraged! The Lord gave us his Spirit to help guide us in controlling the fleshly-man. (Galatians 5:16). As followers of Christ we all have, a purpose, a job to do for God’s Kingdom. “Living for God” and living with a “kingdom mentality” will challenge our self-control, among other things. And let me tell you although we often try (super hard) to be “error-free”, we will fail; probably more than once. You are not alone. There are many examples in the Bible of people like Peter, David, etc., who were walking with Him, following Him and desiring to do/be good and sometimes failed to do what was right in God’s eyes. But we are His, He knows our intentions and shows grace to us (unmerited favor), and has mercy on us (forgiveness and kindness), because HE LOVES US!

It is encouraging to know that even when we “lose it”, we don’t lose Him! In Christ, I have the power to “get ahold of myself” because God has ahold of me! (Isaiah 41:13).

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 1 John 5:4

Category: Faith

Don’t Throw Your Pearls To Pigs!

Get Ahold of Yourself!