Living with #thehazardsofbeinghuman
I wrote #thehazardsofbeinghuman a while ago, long before the school shooting in Florida this week, and I now I am left wondering about the word “marginalized” and the powerful overflow of that of feeling. How isolating, lonely, dangerous and deadly this feeling is in the life of a person without the context of Jesus Christ.
Church Girl’s Personal Note:
Seventeen families are living in this right now.
My Jesus was marginalized, too, and for that very reason died a seemingly insignificant death at the crossroads in Jerusalem. It was not until He was raised from the dead that people began to understand the mystery of the Messiah, the Savior of the World.
When we suffer and are marginalized in faith, it reminds me of what Paul says:
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.” (Philippians 3:8-9, NLT)
People need to know Jesus, to know that they are not alone in any circumstance in which they find themselves…YOU ARE NOT ALONE in any circumstance in which you find yourself!
Even as incomplete and inconsistent as we are this side of heaven, we still need to wrap our arms around all the Lost Sheep, not matter how weird or stinky or messed up or outside of our social circles they are, for the simple fact that we were once Lost, too.
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35, NLT)
~LM
#thehazardsofbeinghuman
Oh, how we toil and spin. It makes us so tired. Of so many things.
Tired of being marginalized because of how we look, who we are, or where we come from.
Tired of acting complacent because it’s what others expect. Tired of mindlessly running on the hamster wheel of life.
Why can’t we embrace every detail of how our Creator made us with arms wide open, down to every curve and wrinkle, line and bump, word and testimony that we have, and accept with joy how life has marked us?
Are we tired of feeling ashamed of our image or of how we have been created?
For being this
color,
gender,
age,
body type,
orientation,
nationality,
circumstance,
this…this HUMAN.
I wonder what Jesus thought
when He first looked down at His human hands,
touched His human body,
and gazed at His human face
and saw how weak was the flesh
that encased His eternal being.
When He realized
the severe limitations
of the trappings
of humanity
and the World.
Over the years I have spoken with so many people who are so terrified to follow what God has laid upon their heart to STEP OUT and STEP UP for the Lord in order to do ministry. We feel like we need permission from a priest or a pastor or someone in authority but we forget that Jesus is the head of the Church, the Spirit directs Christ-followers, and God is Lord over all Creation…who has higher authority than that? Why would we ever withhold these blessings when God has placed it inside of us to offer what we have to others in the Kingdom of Christ?
What is it about ourselves that we lack so much confidence or we doubt so much? The deeper question is WHERE do we place our faith and in Whom do we have it?
What would happen if we really just trusted God and how He made us and stepped into ALL that He has for us without questioning it is HIM who has placed these godly desires and gifts and talents inside of us?
Being humble and honoring God and not elevating ourselves in any way – yes, we do that.
But why can’t we wrap our arms around the fact that we are fearfully and wonderfully made from the start? That God had His hands all over us inside of our mother’s womb and that He has formed us in the depths that we would rise to the heights of heaven to make the name of Jesus known? He has so much laid out for us, if only we would step into the beauty of His calling and purpose.
Why the fear?
I am so tired of asking for permission to be exactly how God created me. (And who am I asking? The World?)
I am so tired of apologizing for being me. Bold. Weak. Powerful. Godly. Christ-following. Commanding. Thoughtful. Creative. Selfish. Caring. Scared. Sometimes it seems I just don’t seem to fit in anywhere.
All these things reside inside of me and it feels my soul is suspended and hovering, outstretched between holiness and hypocrisy, blamelessness and blasphemy.
#thehazardsofbeinghuman
The lesson:
I will be incomplete and inconsistent until heaven.
The lilies of the field don’t toil nor spin to be beautiful. They just ARE because God created them to be. Lilies accept that God made them exactly the way they are.
Lord, help me be more like a lily and let me gather up other lilies in my arms, along with daisies and dahlias and tulips and every such manner of flowers! Show me to love them all simply because You have created them and You love them to the fullest extent of Your love.
#LoveOneAnotherAsIHaveLovedYou (John 13:34)
(Feature photo credit: Ashley Kim)
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