This summer I had the opportunity to be part of THE best Bible study. I read A Modern Girls' Guide to Bible Study by Jen Hatmaker. If you've never heard of Jen, she is worth googling, for sure! If you've never heard of this book, it is worth reading, for sure! This helped me find joy in the Word that I'd been missing for a long time. Even though I've been finished with the book for awhile now, its techniques have continued to help me approach the Bible with fresh eyes and more importantly, fresh ears.
Well, you can't expect to delve into the Word and not end up learning about yourself. When you start listening to the Holy Spirit, you're going to catch an earful. I've recently been reading Acts and the theme of encouraging others. There is also a mini-theme, if you will, of prejudice. Now this is often a word I quickly put into two categories...1. I'm not prejudiced; I would never judge someone on their skin color, religion, etc., and 2. how sad that some people are. So there. I wrapped that concept up neatly and tied it with a "I'm not guilty" bow. Oh, but not so fast. Delve deeper. When you break it down, prejudice is just labeling and categorizing others. Oh. Well, I do that. I don't readily admit to it, but I do that. A lot of us do if we're being honest. This is that part of Bible study where my eyes start looking from side to side and my head and shoulders go down a little...you know the spotlight is on and you can't run from it. It's scary, but if you allow yourself to face it, you end up with one of the best feelings ever. So, I face it. Am I prejudice? Again, not glaringly so. I don't judge on your race, your religion (the two big ones that people think of when they hear prejudice). However, I'm most comfortable with people who act just like me. I usually put some sort of label on it like "it's because we share the same interests". It's just because it's easy. Being around people who act like me is nice...there's not much work to accept that because I've already accepted it in myself! I just push away anyone who would require some work of acceptance. If your personality is aggressive-tell-it-like-it-is, I label you as mean and wash my hands of you. If you're meek and never speak, I categorize you as not like me and just walk the other way. Instead, I need to accept we may have some differences, but it isn't something to be scared of...it's something to embrace.
No matter the situation, I am a person that walks with the figurative arm stretched out in front of me (please don't come any closer than that). Like half of the world, I have some trust issues. When you think about trust it is really synonymous with hope and faith. Well God gives that to me, so who am I to not return it? It's time for me to allow myself to place some faith and hope in others...get closer to those who God put in my life. If I get bruised a little, God will be there to help me through. I'm going to put the guard down and focus on letting others get closer, regardless of whether we are personality twins or polar opposites. We can't be more like Christ with conditions, so I'm letting mine go.
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