Are the people around you dulling you or sharpening you?
Did you know that even your enemies can sharpen you? Sometimes, ESPECIALLY those speaking against you can improve you. It happened to me just this morning.
Remember that story in Genesis? Jealous brothers sold their little brother, Joseph, into slavery, then lied about it. Every time it looked like Joseph would finally break free, things got worse. He ended up in prison having done nothing wrong…all because his brothers resented him.
Years later, a famine broke out. Joseph’s father dispatched the brothers to Egypt to seek food. They pleaded their case to Egypt’s second most powerful person, never realizing he was the very brother they had betrayed.
What would you do in that moment?
Joseph could have let them starve. He could have ordered their heads on a platter. He could have thrown them into the same prison that had once held him. But, Joseph did none of that.
Instead, the betrayed one wept uncontrollably, then said to his brothers, “Do not be afraid. You intended to harm me, but God turned it around for my good,” (Genesis 50:20).
Then, as if he had never been hurt, Joseph fed his brothers, even providing them with a surplus.
(It’s almost too mind-boggling to compute!)
Imagine reading that, then feeling the nudge of the Holy Spirit to examine your own life for betrayals…because He wants you to respond like Joseph.
(Come again?)
That’s EXACTLY what happened to me!
Just as I was contemplating the story of Joseph, a photo fell from the pages of my Bible – a photo of someone I once poured much into. I placed that picture there several years ago and forgot it, but God didn’t. Of all mornings, it fell out THIS day?
She had a way of alienating her peers. She would continuously assume they were against her when nothing could have been further from the truth. I tried so often to speak a better word into her and break that stronghold. Eventually, though, the generational paranoia intensified until she turned against the one trying to help her out of its chokehold.
Most things roll right off my back. I don’t wallow in the wound long. It’s never helpful. In fact, it’s harmful. I admit, though, that some of her accusations felt like daggers to my soul.
But, I knew this morning God revealed that photo from its hidden place because He fully intended to work on ME. I needed to let go. I needed to pray for her. (What?) Yes, I needed to pray for her!
Friends, here is the reality: If you’re loving well, you will end up with a few Judases in your life.
If you love people like Jesus does, and you put yourself out there to help folks break free from their stuck places, moments will come when a Judas arises with a kiss to destroy you. Judas shows affection to your face while plotting your destruction behind your back.
It’s painful. In that pain, it’s easy to pull back, build walls and refuse to let anyone get that close again.
Listen. Repair what needs tweaking in you. In fact, never stop working on you. While you do that, choose to get back to the business of loving like you’ve never been hurt!
Someone reading this is surely saying, “No way am I doing that again!” I hear you. But friend, you must! It’s the template Jesus Himself modeled. It’s how you change lives. It’s how you make the world better.
It’s time to love like Jesus. It’s time to love like you’ve never been hurt!
For comments or prayer, contact Dr. Lanier at HopeCommunityChurch.tv.
