Monday, February 6, 2012

Lifted up, even in the face of discouragement

Scripture Passage that Caught my attention today: Acts 13:48-52 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. 49 Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region. 51 So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Observation: Discouragement didn’t seem to discourage the disciples.

Application: Last night our family watched part of a show called “the Voice.” It’s another one of those “sing for us and we’ll let you know whether we think you’re good enough to possibly be a star” kind of shows.

One of the contestants was an endearing character whose lack of self-confidence may have inhibited his performance. The judges didn’t dislike him, but none of them picked him either. In the pre-performance bio-spotlight, the contestant was emotional, indicating that he’s never really felt very good about himself but that others have encouraged him and so he was beginning to wonder if they were perhaps right and he had something to offer after all. So now he has this mixed message—friends, family or whoever telling him he’s really good and the judges trying to be encouraging in their own way but also saying that they don’t think he’s quite good enough. I'm curious what his future will hold.

I"m also not sure why it is that so many of us (sometimes myself included) try to ascertain our own value as a person based on what others say about us. This is not to say that other people’s opinions don’t have value. After all, other people’s opinions can help us determine what field of study/work might best suit us. Yes, other people’s encouragement or even cold-hard truth can help us find the career for which we might be especially gifted. But our over-all value as a person is not something that others have the right and/or ability to assign.

Paul, Barnabas, and the rest of the joyful disciples have the right idea here. A roadblock in one arena simply opens up another.

How can they have such confidence? Well, ironically, they too have based their value on what someone else has said about them. When Jesus died for them (and rose again) they took that as a sign that of permanent value, the likes of which no little or big skirmish of other earthly folks could ever squash. I guess you could say that they found their voice after listening to THE voice.

Prayer: Lord, regardless of what’s happening around us, help us always to recognize our value through you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Leviticus 1-3 and Acts 13)

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