The photo I am posting here is where my husband and I are staying at the moment. We are so blessed by generous people. Overlooking the greens and listening to the sounds of the birds singing just stimulates me to the peace of God. I am sure the Garden of Eden was much more beautiful and alive when Father first created it for mankind.
All things were created by Him, for Him and through Him (Colossians 1:16). If our God has created all things, all things must have its own individual goodness. My thoughts are that we all have our own perceptions. What we consider as good might not be another person’s taste.We are able to look at the outward appearance but might not be able to fully comprehend what God is doing.
Butterflies go through four major stages of metamorphosis: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. When we look at any of these stages before the beautiful butterfly is let loose to fly, all the previous stages might look ugly to us.
I feel like the Holy Spirit wants you to know that He is preparing you for what He has called you to. You are unique and created just the way He wants you to be. There might have been judgements made against you or questions from friends or family who sounds hurtful to you. You need to stay through that process of metamorphosis like the butterfly. Don’t give up on the dreams and the desire of being different.
Where you are going, the Lord needs you to be different. It takes a lot of courage to be different. John the Baptist must scare his parents quite a bit. He was living in the wild, eating locusts and honey in the desert. He might not look clean or smell nice? These are all the parents’ nightmares. We want our children to look clean, be polite, live a healthy and protected life.
I believe that John was a very radical young person as God puts him through the process of preparations for this special ministry. He was called to be a Pioneer, to path the way for Jesus. Perhaps some comparisons might be going on between parents? Jesus was a Carpenter, loving and kind. John, on the other hand, most likely would be very direct, to the point of being harsh to some. He seems to prefer to live alone and was not very popular amongst certain groups of people. Yet, he was fulfilling one thing – to be the Pave Maker for our Savior.
What I am getting at, is that we should steer away from judging what we see too quickly. We should always go back to the Father and ask what He is doing in this person’s life?
James 2:2-4 “My brothers and sisters, practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by not favoring one person over another. 2 For example, two men come to your worship service. One man is wearing gold rings and fine clothes; the other man, who is poor, is wearing shabby clothes. 3 Suppose you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say to him, “Please have a seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet.” 4 Aren’t you discriminating against people and using a corrupt standard to make judgments?”
James was cautioning Christians not to favour people that they perceived are better than the others. I was convicted recently of using a corrupted standard to judge a person. I was embarrassed to be around this person in public. I heard some unkind words spoken about this dear brother. I knew I felt very uncomfortable and I needed to pray about my own heart.
I was praying for this person to change to what I believe is better for him. But Jesus has a clear insight into his future. He simply told me that this person is in preparation by Him for something unique. He needs to learn to stand and not be offended by how others see him or say about his outward appearances.
Are you feeling like you are under a lot of pressure to be what others expected you to be, but you know in your heart that God is putting desires in you for something very different? God wants to give you the freedom to pursue what He has placed within you. Ask God to give me people to train you and support in your journey. Keep going back to the Holy Spirit for strength and help to stay on the right path. Forgive and keep forgiving those who don’t understand you. Don’t let offence rob your joy of becoming that beautiful free butterfly. It is a process and it will end one day.
Or have you been unhappy about a friend or family member who dresses or looks differently, or even like things that you don’t like? Are you ashamed of them? Maybe it is time to ask Father how He sees them and how to cooperate with Him in your prayer for this person. Let us not react by not favouring them because of their outward appearance. Pray that they will understand what God is doing in their hearts and stand against what the devil wants to do to jeopardise this process.
Prayer :-
Father, we thank you that you have fearfully and wonderfully created all people. We are created in your image and we are all unique and precious to you. Please forgive us where we have judged without fully understanding your ways for anyone. And if we have been hurt by others who have criticised us unkindly, we choose to forgive them today.
Jesus, I ask that you will realign everything that is needed to be tuned to your design. Bring spiritual immunity to us against all confusion and frustration that the devil tries to throw at us. Let your thoughts be amplified in us for those we are struggling with. In your name, above all name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen!
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