I’m a single man. When you’re single you have a lot of time. I have had 38 years of me time. Honestly, I have had enough of me. It’s easy to think that your life doesn’t matter as much when you are alone a lot. People spend so much of their time doing nothing that you start to feel like your life is meaningless. However, because of Jesus, I believe that no one is nothing. Every person has a purpose and plan that God gives. If you asked me if I believed this 15 years ago I would say that you were crazy. Because of singleness and my own bad efforts I have always had this feeling that I was not important. I didn’t want to die, I just never cared to live for more than what I had. Then I went through some things in my relationship with God that changed my views about me. I think it’s important to see a version of you that God sees.
I think how you see yourself decides how you treat people and yourself. If you see yourself in a negative way then you will see other people in a negative way. I remember when my sister got into an accident and she was on the verge of death. My friend and I went to the movies one night later on. She was still in the hospital recovering. There was a guy in the movie theater who talked through most of the movie. I was so stressed out about my sister in the hospital I had to walk out of the movie theater. All I could think about doing was punching that guy. Usually, I’m not a violent person. I’ve never tried to punch anyone, ever. I was just on edge and now that I look back on it, I know why. Your surroundings affect your attitude and heart. I want to list 3 things that show why you are important no matter who you are.
1. You are unique. Moses finds a burning bush then God starts speaking to him. God never really uses a burning bush to speak to anyone else. It’s because God knew what would bring Moses to Him. God knows our uniqueness. Most people never get to the place in their life where they find their God-given uniqueness. If you are as talented as Micheal Jordan or as great of a singer as Whitney Houston then finding your uniqueness is usually easier. Our world caters to talents and abilities. Our world, however, doesn’t cater very well to certain types of uniqueness. In fact, it’s usually dominating uniqueness that gets the special treatment and reserved uniqueness that gets ignored. Moses was ignored as a leader by the Egyptians and also by the Jewish people. Anywhere he went he just an average guy. However, what we find out about Moses is he really likes burning bushes. And also God can use him. The guy who didn’t fit in with the Egyptians and wasn't appreciated by the Jews ends up being one of the major prophets in the old testament. Moses was unique for sure and his relationship with God brought it out. We should always allow our relationship with God to show our uniqueness.
2. People don’t decide your value. When Moses was born the Leader of the Egyptians decided that every child that was born to the Jews should be killed. They were outnumbering the Egyptians. In fear of their power to change things, they decided to kill all the kids being born at that time. Moses happened to be one of those children. The Bible says his mother loved him too much to watch him get killed. So she hid him and floated him down a river to die. The pharaoh’s daughter found the baby and decided to take care of him. So Moses grows up in Pharaoh's house. A whole generation of children was killed and Moses lives. So Moses doesn’t belong to the Egyptians and He doesn’t have any closeness to any Jewish people that are in slavery. So he is alone. Many people decide their value based on how people treat them. Moses is essentially an outcast. Now we know the story of Moses now. Jesus is about to be led to the cross and decides to pray before it happens. While praying the Bible says the spirit of Moses and Elijah come to minister to Jesus. God used Moses, the nobody, to minister to the savior of the world as a pep talk. I’m not sure what Moses said but just know that when Moses was in Egypt he tried to encourage the jews and instead was accused of not being relatable to the slaves. The guy who slaves couldn’t get encouragement from is encouraging Jesus. The process from when he was in Egypt to when Jesus needed to hear him is quite daunting but this does go to show that our value doesn’t come from the way the world sees us. God has a purpose for your life. It could be to speak to Jesus’s relationship in their hearts and encourage them.
3. Pain doesn’t decide who you are. Moses decides to leave Egypt where he is seen as a killer. Rejection is some of the worst pain in the world. When people reject who you are it not only destroys your trust in them but it steals your confidence. Moses goes into hiding for 40 years. When God tells Moses to go back to Egypt he quickly tells God he shouldn't. Whenever God calls you to something and you don't feel like doing it, it's usually because of some type of pain or some type of lost confidence. Moses was a child of Pharaoh. When God tells him to go to Egypt he replies that he stutters. Now maybe he does stutter but I believe the reason is his confidence is shot and he no longer trusts his God-given intuition. When he intervened in that fight between an Egyptian slaver and a Jewish slave he ended up killing the Egyptian slaver. That type of failure and the rejection of the Jewish guy he helped caused him to not see any value in himself. He tells God that he stutters and God basically says, “I made your mouth I know how it works.” A lack of confidence isn’t being honest it’s actually deciding you know more than God about who you are.
One thing is true about life, if God has called you to do something then he knows how to get you through it. A lot of times pain decides how we see ourselves as well as how we think God sees us. But God sees us according to His purpose and not according to our pain. How people treat you can often make you think you deserve to be treated that way but that’s not God’s way. Just because someone abuses you doesn’t mean you deserved it. Just because someone rejected you doesn’t mean you are worthless. Just because someone left you doesn’t mean your worthless. Just because someone hurt you doesn’t mean your broken. Just because someone ignores you doesn’t mean your not important. Many people decide who they are based on how they are treated. However, in the Bible God repeatedly uses the broken (Hagar), the hurting(Mary Magdalene), the outcast (Ruth), the disenfranchised (Naomi), the lowly (Mary the mother of Jesus), the unloved (Leah), the forgotten (David), and the unique (Moses).
Just like God used all these people he can use you as well. I encourage you to seek out a life that isn’t based on your failures or shortcomings but allows you to live and grow in the grace of God.
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