TAKING IT PERSONALLY... Sunday

Devotional for 2/7/16

I have often taken things way too personally and held on to them way too long. It was hard when someone I knew said something about me that hurt or disappointed me.  When my self esteem was low or vulnerable, it made it even harder for me to not take offense.  When what was said about me was true, it sometimes felt like a condemnation of my whole being, instead of just possibly a constructive criticism about one small thing.  Worse yet, if the other person meant it in a mean-spirited way, my internal self worth made all the difference in how I felt about it and responded to it.  When I became stronger internally and regarded myself as not perfect but forgiven and loved always by God, then it was easier to overlook a nasty negative comment or to take advice as it was intended, for my improvement. 

Proverbs 12:16  Fools become annoyed at once, but the wise overlook an insult.

What people say about you often says more about them than it does about you. Sometimes it is about their own past, or what may have just preceded their interaction with you, even if totally unrelated.  It may be about their story, not yours.  So when you take it personally, it's like you are taking something that isn't yours.  That's stealing!  If it isn't truly about you but is about the other person's "story," yet you believe that it is "all about you" and not about them, then that is being rather self centered.  

It's also allowing someone else's words or actions to have control over your feelings and happiness.  Why give away that control to them?  And when we ruminate over it, over-analyze it and don't let it go, it's like allowing someone to live in our heads rent-free.  We may have even totally misinterpreted what was said or meant.  We also need to realize that perhaps we have done the same thing to others at times, saying something that they took personally, possibly totally unbeknownst to us.  So that puts us all in the same boat.  But we need to be careful and not become self-deprecating about all of this. 

Ecclesiastes 7:20-22 (NIV)  Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.  Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you - for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.  

The awesome thing is that God forgives all of it, and that goes for all of us! When we are weak and feel insulted, hurt or disappointed in ourselves or others, then God's grace is there for us.  His offer of completely wiping the slate clean because of his Son's sacrifice on the cross is available to everyone.  So our weakness gives God the opportunity to display his divine power of forgiveness in our lives.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV) The Lord said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."... That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Dear Lord, I thank you for forgiving me when I am overly sensitive about what is said about me.  Help me to overcome my insecurities and to rest my entire worth on you.  Help me to remember that I am your loved and forgiven child, and to extend that love and forgiveness to others.  In your name I pray, Amen.

written by Jan Andersen