My Little Devotional #154: “An Accidental Loss”

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acceptance, accident, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, comfort, devotional, disability, feelings, God, grief, grieving, inspirational, It Isn't the Mane Thing About You, Jesus, loss, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Rarity, tragedy, worth

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “It Isn’t the Mane Thing About You”

In this episode, Rarity is rather excited about an upcoming photo shoot that will feature her and her highly-prized mane when an accident causes the bulk of her hair to fall out. Robbed of her pride and joy, noticing she doesn’t garner nearly as much attention as she did with it, and feeling forced to cancel her photo shoot, she sinks into a cycle of depression and self-pity, endlessly obsessing about what she lost. While her friends let this go on for a few days, when she shows no signs of quitting they stage an intervention with a bit of “tough love”; reminding her that there’s a lot more to her than her mane that they all love about her. Finally shaken out of her glum mood, Rarity is able to make what’s left of her hair into a new style that’s just as eye-catching as she remembers her flair for inspiration and creativity. While she still would prefer her mane back, she realizes that all of her time wasted on lamenting it wasn’t doing it or her any favors, especially when it made her start forgetting about herself and her worth as an individual.

I consider myself very blessed by God that I have made it this far in my life without having to have something permanently taken away from me via injury, illness, or major catastrophe. I know there are many out there who are not nearly so fortunate, and I won’t presume to be so bold as to say I know how they feel. Yet even if you’re like me and are at the time in your life where you’re still having more opportunities open to you, there will come a time for all of us where doors will start shutting. I’m not going to be able to get much older before there will be limits on how strong and agile I can make my body. Not long after that and I won’t be able to eat what I used to and I’ll need to make a point to pay more attention to my heart and lungs. Assuming I’m lucky enough to not need glasses by then, in a few more years I’ll have to cut back on my exercise and say goodbye to any long competition runs. Eventually, all of us will reach the point where even getting around the house will become difficult, where we have to relinquish our ability to drive or get ourselves in and out of the shower, and may not be able to enjoy much from a physical standpoint at all.

In that sense, all of us will eventually reach the time of our life in which we lose something we thought was going to be a part of us forever–something we may have even enjoyed, relished, and prided ourselves in–and be left wondering what comes after that. If we’re lucky that will come late in life. If not, we’ll experience loss much sooner and far more abruptly and suddenly. All it takes is one incident to rob us of our sight, our hearing, our mobility, or our appearance.

When faced with this kind of loss, the grieving process is as natural as it is for when we have a death of a loved one. In a similar vein, both involve realizing you have lost something you aren’t going to get back and are now faced with an emptiness or, in this case, a closed door where once there was an open one. Anger, bargaining, denial, and depression are all natural reactions. Christians experience this as naturally as everyone else too. In fact, they might feel the reactions a bit more strongly: blaming God for what happened to them, thinking praying enough or doing good deeds will somehow undo it, and lastly feeling abandoned and unable to fulfill any meaningful purpose. How would, for example, a person once admired for their beauty, especially one in a romantic relationship, feel if they were a burn victim? Or how would someone who used to be an active athlete feel if they got damage to their spinal cord?

I don’t have any answer to how to make someone feel better after something like that, and if I did I wouldn’t presume to think I could. Even if I had been though a major loss such as that, it would be ignorant to believe I could understand how someone else was feeling who was experiencing such tragedy and that I could wash it away with some magic Bible verse. Grief is a natural process, as I said, and it has to be endured and gone though in its own time. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4)

The only thing I do know is from this episode: you can’t let a loss dictate who you are. You can’t reach a point where you think you’re nothing now; where you start defining yourself by what you lack rather than what you still have. You may reach a point where you have a disability, but you are not “a” disability.

Remember what the Bible says. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16) “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12: 6-7) ““Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35)

God sees glory and beauty in you even when you can’t see it inside yourself. There is no one who is “worthless” or “too broken” in his eyes, whether in the spiritual sense or in the physical sense. At your lowest point in your life where you thought you were of the smallest, most insignificant value, God appraised you as worthy enough for his Son to die in your place. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8) In the midst of whatever you’re going through, please don’t forget that.

And if you are lucky enough to have all of your own faculties but know someone who has experienced such a loss, first bless God for what you have, but then take a page from Twilight and her friends in this episode. Let that someone know that you still see them just the way they are now as you did before their loss; that you value them as much at this point as at that one. Don’t try to offer any platitudes or maxims or empty advice…just let them know that you are there whenever they need to reach out, and that you’ll be with them to “grieve with them” as long as they need. “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:35); “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)

As a final bit of motivation toward encouraging the downhearted, I’d like to link one of my favorite songs: Here on Youtube.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your words of encouragement found in your Word, the Bible, that constantly assure me of my worth even when I feel worthless. If I have been stricken with loss, help me to cling to that and remember that even with what I lack I am more precious to you than I can possibly imagine. And if I am fortunate enough to not be lacking, then help me to always be there for others who need me in the way they need me–even if it’s only to sit with them as they cry. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #130: “Trust Me”

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acceptance, Applejack, backstabbing, betrayal, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, faith, fandom, Fluttershy, Gladmane, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, secrets, trust, Viva Las Pegasus

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Viva Las Pegasus”

Most of this episode centers around the owner of a resort in Las Pegasus named Gladmane who has some of the most talented performers in Equestria working under him, although each one is talented enough to move onto bigger and better things if they want. On the surface, it seems that they stay purely out of loyalty, as Gladmane prides himself on being everyone’s “friend” and keeping them happy. Yet it turns out as the episode progresses that all is a farce. In truth, he keeps the performers poisoned against each other and constantly fighting so that they won’t ever pair up long enough to leave him for better deals or greater success. Yet because he acts so friendly and concerned all the time, no one ever suspects anything. They assume he has their best interest at heart the entire time, when in reality he was taking their trust and faith in him and violating it.

One of the greatest sins that can be committed, not only in terms of damage it does externally but also internally, emotionally, and spiritually, is betrayal. Taking someone’s complete trust and then purposely and willfully violating it completely. It’s such a terrible crime that when Dante wrote the “Inferno” he made it the worst possible sin in Hell…one Satan himself is guilty of. And as anyone who has ever suffered betrayal in one form or another knows, what it leaves behind is terrible. A more recent example in history is the people who sunk their life savings into Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme and will now never see a fraction of that money back, nor will any amount of time he spends in prison undo it. Debatably, such a crime does far worse damage than theft, burglary, or property damage, even though those crimes usually carry stiffer penalties.

Betrayal is a crime against trust. We all know that we take a chance when we trust people with anything. Some risks are small and some are high, and how much we trust someone with is a measure of faith we put into other people. How badly that trust is violated hurts our faith in others that much worse. It’s likely that those victims of Madoff will never trust anyone with a single dollar of theirs again, even if a different investor has a good chance of recuperating at least some of their losses. Nor are they likely to trust anyone else asking for money, such as a charitable organization that fulfills a genuine need or a church asking for a tithe. In that sense, the wound of betrayal continues to linger on and impacts others downstream.

While many of us may be lucky enough to have not been a victim of a loss of retirement or savings, chances are all of us have had to deal with betrayal before. Some of us have been have had it come from someone we genuinely trusted and perhaps even loved. And it’s likely to have impacted how we regard others in the future and how we treat them. The emotional wound that it leaves behind is terrible, because it doesn’t easily heal. Having exposed ourselves to the chance of being hurt so badly before, it is unlikely after feeling that pain that we’ll ever want to expose ourselves again. It can lead us to locking other people out, keeping them at arm’s length, or simply shunning the company of others. It can also lead to warping our perspective of humanity rather badly.

But the worst impact of all is how it effects us in our relationship with God.

A good part of Christianity is based on faith and trust in God. It’s the ultimate foundation for our faith, right back in the Old Testament with the patriarch Abraham, (“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6) and stemming all the way to the Apostle Paul (“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9). In between, from Moses to Joshua to Samuel to Daniel to Solomon to Mary to Jesus Himself and with everyone else who came before and after them, it was all about acts of faith and trust in God. But if we’ve been betrayed in the past, we’re likely not to have much trust in others; including God. And if we’ve been betrayed by a different religion or even a “Christian” Church, then that much more less so because that’s what we associated God with.

On a personal note, I know someone who’s suffered most of their life with feelings of distrust toward others. They feared that they can never expose the truth about themselves and certain things they’ve done because no one would ever look at them the same way. Yet this dishonesty, both with themselves and others, did nothing to help anything. By thinking they couldn’t expose it to others, they ended up thinking that a part of them was evil and unlovable…both to others and to God. And that came out in a brutal way when they finally did confess, and it almost ended up disastrously. And that’s bad any way you look at it.

As Christians, it’s not only important to recognize God is love (1 John 4:8), but to also accept it. If we fail to do so, if we see God as only a judge and someone “out to get us”, we’ll never fully trust God to forgive us of our sins; much less be with us in difficulty or in whatever he calls us to do. And if we don’t trust God to be with us to lead us and guide us in times of trouble, and we don’t trust that God loves us, then we won’t act from that perspective and do anything for the Kingdom of God, because we feel we’ll be “on our own” everywhere we go.

While it’s important to be careful about whom we choose to trust, we can’t go through life never trusting anyone. As I mentioned in earlier devotionals, humans are social creatures. We need relationships to live: both with God and with others. Anything less is failing to live as a human and sentencing us to a miserable life. But if our trust is violated, or we never had much trust in others to begin with, how do we learn to trust other people?

That’s not an easy answer, especially to someone who has had their trust violated. It might require psychiatric help or counselling, or facing up to a lot of painful things. I have no universal answer because all people are unique. Yet from my perspective, the biggest thing I can encourage is we need to take a chance to at least look for someone to trust. When one is emotionally wounded, the only way to ever be cured is to risk getting hurt again, unfortunately. We have to find someone we are willing to take a chance on trusting. (That’s also why I suggest a professional, because they, at least, are required by law to keep your secrets or they can’t practice.) Once we’ve experienced that we can trust someone with who we are, and all of what we are, we can accept that others, including God, will do the same.

As uneasy, uncomfortable, and fearful as this might be, I strongly urge anyone wrestling with this trust issue to do so. Don’t be like the person I knew and spend years of your life needlessly living in fear of what will happen if people know the “real you”. Remember, God already knows the real you and accepts you completely (Jeremiah 1:5).

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that you have promised to never leave me or forsake me, and that this saying is trustworthy even in the darkest of times. If I am having trouble accepting this, or having trouble placing my trust in others, especially if I am still hurting from an earlier betrayal, please help me to open my heart to others once again and to seek the help I need to open up once again. In doing so, I will be better able to minister to others and fulfill the Kingdom of God. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

 

My Little Devotional #117: “Who Goes There?”

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acceptance, belief, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, doubt, faith, fear, God, hope, imitation, inspirational, Jesus, love, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, perfectionism, Rainbow Dash

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Newbie Dash”

I finally got around to reviewing this episode, and, as you can see from my recent review of it, I didn’t think too terribly highly of it. Yet the part that I commented on that was painful to watch was when Rainbow Dash, in an attempt to try and make herself stand out more among her fellow Wonderbolts and lose what she thought was a dismissive nickname, started acting like her other friends in the Mane Six. Not only did it not go over that well, but it was obvious to everyone that this wasn’t the real “her”, and in the end she wasted a lot of time trying to be someone different without really changing anything internally or externally…a lot of time that would have been better spent building relationships and connections with the rest of her new teammates. This ended up being especially true at the end when the rest of the Wonderbolts revealed how highly they thought of her and how happy they were to have her on their team, meaning all of the worrying was for nothing.

This ended up resonating with something rather personal to me that I’ve been dwelling on for quite a while. I come from a background of perfectionism. It wasn’t intentional; just something that followed as a natural consequence of how I was brought up. As I’ve said before, I was raised to develop the mind set that I could always do better and be better. Nothing was ever a result of luck, the situation, or my own talents or lack thereof. Everything was always my fault due to lack of foresight or, more often, effort. No matter what I did, the response I always got was: “Well, you could have done better if you really wanted to.” That internalized the idea that anything bad that ever happened to me was not only my fault, but was somehow done on purpose and was therefore blameworthy. Needless to say, this was a rather miserable way to spend much of my life and something I fight with to this day.

The worst part of this mindset is it’s a “warped lens” from which I distort the entire world and every aspect of my life, including Christianity. I deal with a lot of situations in which I try to participate either in Church or religious events or even in evangelism or Bible study, and I not only fall flat in many of those situations but often I sit around angry, sullen, and bitter. Sometimes I start purposely being mean or swearing at the others around me. And why?

Because I feel inferior to all of them. I feel like all of them are “real Christians” while I am a fraud or a phony. I feel like they are all saved while I’m just going through the motions. I can’t listen to any testimony or miracle without thinking I could never do anything like that or have any encounter like that. And truth be told, the few times I did I automatically dismissed those as not being real encounters or doubting the hand of God in them, because I figured that sort of thing doesn’t happen to me.

The truth is I couldn’t (and, honestly, often can’t) see God accepting me for who I am because all I can see is imperfection and flaws, while my own skewed world view only saw God as demanding and condemning. Constantly setting a perfect standard and constantly angry at those who fail to live up to it. Worse yet, I saw every sin and failure I made not only as an incident but something that defined me. If I was a real Christian, then I’d never do that and I’d love doing everything for Jesus and the Kingdom of God. It made a constant chain of feeling inadequate and lowly.

Yet in spite of these feelings, I kept going to Church and trying to get involved in aspects of ministry. I tried to sing in worship and reach out to others in the ways that seemed the most “godly”. Like Rainbow Dash, I felt if I started “acting the part” that somehow things would follow where I would actually become that sort of person and then be a “true” Christian. Of course, it never worked out that way. My bitterness and self-loathing was all still there, and eventually it would always come out.

Recently, I went to an altar call for prayer about this. Once I explained my situation and received prayer, I heard many of the things I have heard before in regards to this issue. This time, however, I tried to not only listen a bit more closely but actually believe what I was hearing, and it was simple yet very hard for people like me to accept. So if you’re like me and dealing with this same issue, I want you, like me, to listen and accept this in spite of all the voices, doubts, and fears screaming at you internally that you’re an exception.

Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross not out of any compulsion or active behavior on our part, but because He wanted to save you. He didn’t want to lump you into a “catch-all” category of mankind, nor does He smack Himself in the forehead thinking why He “wasted His time” on you when you sin. When a father or mother has a child, no matter how the child behaves there is nothing they can do or not do that breaks off the love entirely of the parent for their offspring. So much more God, who is the source of an infinitely perfect love, when he sees us. We’re not merely, as I myself have said before, “scum on the surface of a speck floating in the universe” to him. We are all more than creations. We are children of God. He not only sees value in us before we have a chance to gain it, he sees value in us when we don’t have it at all by anyone else’s standard. There’s no such thing as an individual worth less or worth more to him. We are already precious in his sight by virtue of being brought into being.

As my pastor suggested, every time that something comes up (whether from ourselves or from something more malevolent) accusing us of being inferior or not good enough, take the opportunity to stop and thank Lord Jesus for His individual sacrifice for YOU. Turn what is a time of self-doubt and hatred into a time for praising the Lord and turning sadness into joy. In that way, we “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5) for God and train ourselves not only not to hate ourselves, but also to train our minds to see ourselves the way God sees us, and thereby be empowered to live more boldly for him.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your Word. In spite of my doubts, my fears, and what the world around me says, your Word stands true and affirms your love for mankind from age to age, from now until eternity, and shall endure even if Heaven and Earth pass away. (Matthew 24:35) Help me to cling to that when lies, insults, doubts, fears, and even my own self accuse me. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #110: “A Whole New You”

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acceptance, Applejack, being true to yourself, Bible, change, Christian Life, Christianity, Countess Coloratura, fandom, faults, God, individuality, Jesus, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, perfection, personality, potential, self-esteem, The Mane Attraction, uniqueness, virtues

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Mane Attraction”

In this episode, Applejack got a rather big shock on seeing her old friend Coloratura from summer camp as a nation-wide-renown pop idol. Not because of her fame, though, but rather because she seemed so radically different from the pony she remembered. Rather than being down-to-earth she wore elaborate makeup, costumes, hairstyles, went around with an entourage, and passed around fake kisses for autographs. At first it led her to think her friend had changed. A deeper look, however, revealed she was still the same pony; she merely adopted this persona (on her dishonest manager’s advice) because she thought she’d be a failure without it.

This brought something to mind that I’ve puzzled over in the past: the concept of being true to yourself. It seems like it’s a fairly straightforward maxim. Most people always encourage you to “be yourself” even at any early age rather than try to imitate other people. We as a society value uniqueness, individual quirks, and personality traits. We hold “diversity” to be a virtue, and while that is normally applied to people of different races, genders, creeds, and the like, it’s also applied simply to personality differences. Nevertheless, as a Christian I find this subject rather contentious and I believe others would feel the same way.

The topic of being true to oneself is one matter where many Christians might feel a bit “confused” as to what the Bible instructs. On one hand, we have messages about how we are special creations, and how all of our differences come together to make a whole. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14) “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5). And it’s true indeed that everyone is different and no one can be “you” or anyone else. Yet at the same time, we hear a lot about how we are to be conformed to the image of Christ and to become more and more like Him in every area, as Jesus represents the ideal Christian.”You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2). “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

That begs the question of whether or not the message of being true to oneself, or, more succinctly, “being yourself” is one supported by the Bible. Does God truly appreciate us as we are? Aren’t we all sinful and therefore displeasing to God? Isn’t one of the goals of Christianity  for us to become “better” because none of us are good as-is? After all, if we were, why would we need Jesus?

It’s not just in the Bible but in many areas of life where we can get the message that we ourselves are “not good enough”–that we need to improve ourselves in some way or alter who we are in order to be acceptable in certain situations, circles, or even to certain individuals. In the extreme case, a person can get it into their head that they are no good in any way and constantly need to change to fit other molds…usually ones made by other people. Certainly many religions do that, especially in horror stories involving cults. The question is…is Christianity just a “lighter” example of that?

First and foremost, God hates sin not sinners. God hates things that are evil and bring death and destruction to his creations, which includes human beings. I personally refuse to believe that God creates anything just to hate it or destroy it…especially people.No one is exactly like anyone else and all people are unique, and this is something I strongly believe God takes delight in and created intentionally. The world itself is full of wonder and variety, and the way life exists and evolves, as I learned in my background through the life sciences, increases the wonder and variety as time goes on.

In the same way, while I have my times where I have doubts or questions, ultimately I don’t believe God wants us to change the core of our being or personality. After all, why would God create us to be a certain kind of personality just to want to change it completely? To me, that would imply imperfection or a “mistake” on the part of God. And no one is ever created as a mistake.

What God would like us to do, and what I believe the passages up above are saying, is remove anything that keeps us from being the best that we can be. A different pastor that I listened to once likened it to a block of marble in the hands of a sculptor. The sculptor doesn’t change the marble that the statue is made out of. Nor does the sculpture takes bits of this and that and mold it together to make the statue. What he or she does is remove everything around the statue until one can only see the statue itself.

As I said before, God hates sin, wickedness, and evil; not people. What he wants us to do, I believe, is not to remove things that make us who we are but remove things from our lives that keep us from being who we are. Things that we’ve devoted too much time and energy to that have no value, or things that are ultimately self-destructive. While it’s taken me years to figure this out and it’s still something I’m trying to accept, I believe while God may call us into difficult situations and to do things we have no experience doing, he ultimately won’t call us to do something that is completely contrary to what we are.

For example, I feel God might call me to step out of my comfort zone to talk to someone even though I’m terrible at interacting with strangers, or to volunteer for something that I feel antsy about doing; but I doubt God will ever call me to design an attractive new form of footwear or play a complete concerto on a violin because I haven’t the slightest idea, talent, or inclination to do either of those things, even if God could somehow make either of those things benefit the Kingdom. God could possibly call me to do those things, because all things are possible through him, but it’s more likely that he will direct me to do something that only I can do with my unique set of talents, such as my writing ability, my attention to detail, my knowledge of biology, or my skill at computing. Something that perhaps only that unique combination can service.

While we should always strive to not sin, it’s important to not only appreciate our own differences and be true to ourselves, but not to let ourselves be lured into thinking we need to change fundamentally who we are to become acceptable to God.

A. As already stated, God made us and knows who we are, and he designed us so no one else is like us.

B. God already accepts us and sent his Son, Jesus, to die for our sins while we were still sinners. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) We are already where he wants us when he wanted us.

C. God’s love is unconditional. If we had to change to become pleasing to God for him to love us, it would be conditional and therefore not true love. He may not want to leave us where we are at or to want us to keep sinning, but his love for us is not something that is earned or contingent on merit.

D. Feeling the need to change ourselves to become pleasing to others is unhealthy and a mark of low self-esteem and acceptance. It is used by others as a manipulative tool. God doesn’t desire to manipulate anyone against their will because he gave us all freedom to choose. If one is around others who pressure them to change to be acceptable to them or, worse yet, in a Church that preaches that God desires such a thing, it’s important to get away quick.

E. Finally, while there are many worthwhile and important ministries out there and the temptation might be to try and change ourselves to fit one of them, and we should always “aim high”, there are also ministries that are a perfect fit for us. If we try to change ourselves to fit one of these “higher callings” because we feel they are more important rather than a genuine calling, the end result will likely be disaster (as I found out myself the hard way). When trying to hit a target, it’s important not only to aim high but point ourselves at the right “bull’s eye”…probably one that’s geared toward one of our aptitudes.

To paraphrase Lord Jesus’ parable about the sparrows and throw in a bit of my own Biology knowledge into the mix…  There are easily over 350,000 species of beetles in the world. While they’re all just “bugs” to most people, each one of them fills their own little niche in the world and no two species do the exact same thing. All are necessary to make the natural world as wondrous as it is now.

And I believe God likely holds we are all “worth more than many beetles”. 🙂

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, I praise you for how wonderfully you made me, with all of my virtues and all of my faults, and that no one is exactly like me. This day I wish to give you the very best of who I am as I commit and trust my life to you. Please remove from me everything that keeps me from living up to this potential. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #99: “Shame-Less”

Tags

acceptance, Applejack, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, fandom, Fluttershy, forgiveness, God, guilt, inspirational, Jesus, love, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, self-punishment, shame, Twilight Sparkle

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?”

In one of the more heart-wrenching episodes of the series, we find in this one that Princess Luna has been harboring a terrible secret. Still ashamed of herself for her crimes as Nightmare Moon, she feels she hasn’t suffered enough for her past sins and deserves to be punished for her guilt. As a result, she created an entity for the sole purpose of tormenting and torturing her every single night forever.

While none of us may be capable of generating entities out of nothing to torture us, the underlying problem is, unfortunately, a problem with too many people: suffering under an endless wave of guilt.

There are a lot of bad things in the world, and a lot of bad mistakes people can make at any time in their lives. While I like to think one of the primary tenets of Christianity is that we believe people can change, the world (and even other Christians) don’t always see it that way. Frankly, we don’t see it ourselves either. This is especially true in cases where we live under a house where love and acceptance, either consciously or subconsciously, was conveyed as something “conditional”.

The idea can be seen from childhood. In all houses, children misbehave and adults correct and punish. In some places, it is understood that the child’s behavior was bad. Yet in some places, the focus changes…saying that the child themselves are “bad” for doing those things. That leads to a warped view that carries on to many aspects of adulthood: the idea that there is no such thing as a good or bad action, but rather that a person themselves are good or bad innately. That what you do isn’t so much wrong as you, yourself, are wrong.

This is a skewed and warped viewpoint, and very damaging to an individual. In this case, your own worth is judged by everything you do. You’re only good until you do something “bad”, at which point, you yourself are “bad”. This causes people to become people-pleasers; to strive to be externally good and perfect all the time and to make other people happy, because if they show any disapproval for any of their actions that reflects on them as a person being a mistake, evil, wrong, etc. This can lead to a host of problems. Perfectionism is one example; a sickness where a person can never be satisfied because if they mess up it’s the end of the world and if they succeed they could “always have done better”. Unhealthy relationships are another, as a person can gravitate to one who makes “more mistakes” than them or gives conditional praise, leading them to get a sense of fulfillment by remaining with them.

At its heart, however, is the sense that one is always in the wrong. That one is not good enough, not pure enough, not Christian enough, is rotten, horrible, mean…or, to put it simply, innately “bad”. This is the worst feeling of all, as it diminishes all achievements, ruins chances for interacting with others, frustrates attempts to be “as Jesus” before they’ve even started, and constantly leads to a depressed outlook at oneself; thinking they aren’t worth love or attention. In effect, mentally condemning themselves for past sins and mistakes.

Yet the worst, the very worst, thing that stems from this is when we come from a Church, family, or background that teaches that this is the way God views us. This line of thinking can quickly lead one to feel they are forsaken or hated by God, and that no matter what they do they’ll never be pleasing to him.And when one’s thinking gets distorted like that, even reading the Word of God can give little comfort as one’s perception will simply “read what they expect to hear”; justifying all their negative feelings and calling it truth.

So what is the way to deal with this?

First and foremost is something I learned a while ago and have to remind myself of from time to time. True guilt, or “godly sorrow”, confronts you with the fact that what you did was bad. When you confess your sin to God and repent of it, the guilt goes away. False guilt and shame, on the other hand, tells you that you are bad, and continues to do so long after you have repented and atoned. It’s not real guilt at all in that case but a disease.

Second: to me, I think it helps to take a page from what happened with Princess Luna in this episode, and remember that just like all good things, the people in our lives who genuinely love and care for us are gifts from God. And since God acts through others, it might be a good idea to heed them from time to time.

What eventually got Luna to forgive herself was the realization that she was surrounded by people who had loved, accepted, and forgiven her. That if she truly valued them and truly respected them, then she had to have enough faith in their own judgment to be willing to forgive herself as well.

Similarly, if we have people in our lives who genuinely care for us and accept us in spite of all of our own past mistakes, loving us just the same, and we truly claim we believe the Word of God in how it says God loves and cares for us more than any other individual, then either we have to call those people in our lives liars, as well as God himself a liar, or we have to accept that God too loves and accepts us. And maybe, like Luna, what we really need to do is learn the ability to forgive and accept ourselves as others have already done.

Lastly, the phrase “unconditional love” and “unconditional acceptance” is, in fact, a misnomer. If love and acceptance aren’t unconditional, then they aren’t really love and acceptance. If you have to “prove yourself”, either through actions or self-punishment for past sins, to be pleasing to someone or earn their affection, then they never loved or cared about you in the first place. That’s the whole reason Lord Jesus’ ultimate act of love was given on behalf of all; both those who would readily accept it as well as those who would reject it, and irrespective of how “deserving” anyone was. We talk a great deal about how we are all sinners in the eyes of God and there is not one who is righteous, but we have to remember that Jesus’ Sacrifice wasn’t simply to make Himself look good by manifesting His Righteousness in giving Himself for a bunch of “unworthy creatures”, but to show the love and value He places on everyone no matter who they are or what they’ve done.

And, like anyone who truly loves us would, the last thing He wants to see is us chained by shackles of false shame, false guilt, and mired by our past sins. Jesus came to set us free from sin not just one day in Heaven but here today, and from everything associated with it. Let’s keep that in mind the next time we find ourselves emotionally beating ourselves up.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you that when you forgive me of my sin, my record is clean and forgotten–as if the sin never existed either now, in the past, or in the future. And thank you for all the people I have in my life who I have revealed my true self to with all my past mistakes who still accept and love me. When thoughts of shame and past failure come to mind, help me to cling to the truth of your salvation. And forgive me for all the times which I ‘cheapened’ your love by refusing to believe that you could truly desire my welfare and salvation. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #90: “All By Myself”

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acceptance, Apple Bloom, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, community, devotional, fandom, fear, future, God, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Princess Luna, Scootaloo, self-confidence, self-defeat, Sweetie Belle

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Bloom and Gloom”

Like Apple Bloom in this episode, lots of people worry about what happens as they get older. When we’re young, we pretty much just dread the loss of freedom that comes with a job. Later on we start worrying about what it will mean to get married and, if we go through with that, what about a family. As we reach middle age we start wondering about what’s going to come after our careers and what our impact on the world was or our legacy. Most of all, we start thinking more and more as we get older about the inevitable, which is why it’s not until one grows older often that they start thinking about where they will spend eternity.

And of course, like Apple Bloom, a lot of people wonder about themselves personally. They think a lot about the problems that afflict them specifically, and, of course, that’s perfectly natural. They think not only of the choices they made but the type of person they are now and, perhaps, mistakes that haunt them or relationships that they have broken. Sometimes this is just reflection, but if there’s something negative in the past (and most people have at least one thing) we can dwell on that. We can wonder about what we “should have done”, or think about the kind of person we are. We can start thinking of ourselves as “mess-ups” in certain areas or untalented or failures in others.

Finally, like Apple Bloom, it’s very easy not only for Christians but for people in general to make the biggest mistake in this line of thinking: assume we are the only ones in the world with that sort of problem.

To a degree, there’s some truth in that statement. It’s true that no one is exactly like you or has the exact same problems you do, because everyone is unique. Yet it can lead to a generalization in the other direction. The idea that out of all the people in the world, you are the one who would fail if you try this one thing. You are the one exception when it comes to doing something that everyone else can do but you can’t. Everyone else, whether in a class, at home, or at church, is better or more talented in that area. In regards to the latter, they’re “holier”, praise more loudly, serve more joyfully, reach out to others more easily…while you? You’re just the one individual who can’t click with it.

I get this especially bad. There are many times I’m in rooms full of people and I think every last one of them is “better” than I am. That’s a bad tendency to begin with because, for starters, we should never, ever compare ourselves to one another. If we’re going to single ourselves out from everyone, we should do it in the sense that no one has had the exact same set of life experiences we had and so we can’t judge our own relative worth, or that of anyone else.

But in the broader sense…perhaps it’s a good idea to envision what Princess Luna did for Apple Bloom as what God would like us to see. When she tried to say she was the only one who had those fears and doubts, the alicorn immediately presented her with a seemingly infinite set of doors; each one leading to another individual who had the exact same fears and doubts about themselves.

There have been a few moments in my life where, to the tune of a great deal of stomach turning, personal arm twisting, and no small amount of fear and shame I have admitted sins, thoughts, or misdeeds. Things that I thought would immediately brand me in the eyes of others as some wretched, twisted little half-man. Yet I’ve noticed that when I’ve done so in front of a true healthy Christian community, one that’s truly based on the Gospel and not on rules or control, I was surprised to see people look back at me calmly and admit they did the same thing. In fact, I soon find that in the best church communities, everyone in a small group thinks they’re the worst sinner in the bunch.

To me, this is why the Bible encourages small communities and openness and honesty. People fear being honest about how bad they feel or confessing the things that make them feel “worth-less” compared to other people will simply confirm their worst fears and lead to condemnation by everyone. Yet I find someone that is seriously introspective and serious about turning their life around ironically becomes their own worst critic. It seems if we refuse to let our own sin or bad behavior “slide” and to call ourselves accountable for it, then we’ll go to the opposite extreme and condemn ourselves to the point of self-defeat. Yet when you’re honest before others who are trustworthy and genuine, you quickly discover that you’re not as alone in your journey through life as you think and, much as Apple Bloom in this episode, you’re running from your own nightmare…and nightmares aren’t real.

Always remember…people didn’t come to Christ or a Christian community because they woke up one day feeling like the holiest person in the world and decided to bless the Church with their own magnificence. They came likely because they were feeling at their lowest and most sinful and recognized their need for a Savior…just like the rest of us. This isn’t a flock of perfectly clean sheep and one filthy one in the bunch. It’s nothing but filthy sheep going to the same shepherd to be made clean. As Jesus said in Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Suggested Prayer: “Dear Lord, thank you that you have loved me with an everlasting love since before I was formed in the womb, and that your plans for me and love for me will never be hindered by any fault, error, or mistake on my part. As you have so accepted me in spite of my failings, help me not only to accept others in the same way…but also to not be so arrogant as to declare I know better than you and fail to accept myself. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #82: “Faith…Less?”

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acceptance, Applejack, belief, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, dogma, faith, fandom, God, Good Samaritan, hate, inspirational, Jesus, light of the world, love, motivational, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, Orlando, Pulse, religion, religions, salt of the earth, shooting, tolerance, truth, witness

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Leap of Faith”

As this episode so keenly illustrates, everyone, whether Christian or not, needs to be vigilant for who we put our trust and faith in. This is certainly true of “snake oil” salesmen like the ones in this episode, but can naturally apply to anything, whether they be professionals, politicians, or, perhaps most keenly, religions and churches. We must constantly be mindful of people who seek to manipulate, deceive, or push personal agendas or private interests and are using the mask of professionalism or religious authority, even divine authority, to hide their true interests.

This, unfortunately, leads to one of the biggest criticisms atheists and agnostics make of Christianity as well as religions in general. What makes you say that your religion is any better than all the other religions there are?

And, equally unfortunately, the biggest disappointment I personally find in Christianity is how this is answered. One of the greatest faults I find in many Christians is they assume because they have the faith to accept the Bible as the Word of God and Jesus Christ as Lord that, somehow, everyone else in the world has automatically done the same. That leads to situations like this…

“The Bible is the Word of God and says Christianity is the one true religion.” “Well, ‘Fishism’ says the Book of Trout[obviously I’m making this up for the example] is the word of the one true god.” “Yes, but they’re lying, because ours was written by God’s divine inspiration.” “Well, Fishism says you are lying and that their book was written by a god’s divine inspiration.” “But you can trust us, because our book tells you that it is divinely inspired.” “Their book also says that it is divinely inspired.” “Ok, it’s useless to talk to you, because obviously you are clutching to your sin because your mind isn’t automatically realizing that when God says something it’s true and everything else contrary to it is a liar.”

Things like that kind of make me want to pull my hair.

I know we are called to preach that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, but just saying that alone isn’t terribly effective unless your audience doesn’t do any critical thinking or was lucky enough to hear that from you first. Every other religion out there either says the same thing or says they are the one true way too. So what sets Christianity apart? What makes our way truer than anything else? How do we show the world that we are the one true faith and that what we’re preaching is real? Is it realistic to simply say: “Well, if they’re destined for salvation, they’ll believe us…and if they embrace evil they won’t”?

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” To me, that’s always been the gold standard. If we really are Christians, if we really are the “light of the world”, then we should stand out and different from everyone else and as something good or “radiant”.

Unfortunately, at least to me, it seems like rather than be defined for what good they do for the world, religions, including Christianity, are simply defined by what they’re against. Some days I wonder what I do, or many other Christians around me, to help anyone other than telling them not to do things.

This really struck me recently in the wake of the Orlando tragedy. Right after it happened, there were various posts on Facebook showing support for the victims in the wake of the devastating loss of life. And there I sat, finding myself hesitating to even click the “like” button. Why? Because I wasn’t sure if it meant I promoted homosexuality.

Fortunately, I had a realization. That made me little better than the old religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They refused to associate with certain people because they refused to have any company with sinners. Jesus embraced them openly. The victims of this recent shooting were people’s children, friends, family, and individuals with hopes and dreams and lifetimes of experiences. The chance to become anything they wanted cut tragically short by an act of psychotic hate. And there I was…doing the same thing the shooter did; defining the entire worth of their lives by them being homosexual. It was little better than the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the priest and the Levite would have rather let a man bleed to death than risk becoming ritualistically “unclean”.

I felt no small measure of disgust at myself at that. I asked myself: “Can I honestly say I’m really all that better than a crazed gunman if deep down in my heart-of-hearts I’m not as sad for these people as I would have been if they were heterosexual? Can I call myself a follower of Christ?”

(On a side note, kudos to Chick-Fil-A for jumping up and readily doing something I should have.)

My prayer for today is not only that we show the world our faith, but let them know that it’s real and not just another set of religious dogma…and that we do so by embodying Lord Jesus’ commission to be the light of the world. That includes now in the wake of this act of despicable hate and horrific tragedy.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the gift of my faith and for the events in my life that have led me to you and your Salvation. As I share this gift with others and the good news of the Gospel, please help me to always be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and to define my Christian faith always more by what I bring to others than what I shout down, crusade against, or take away. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”