Heart Matters: “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:14

I if were to speak directly to the next generation, one of the things I’d want them to know most is that they are each one of a kind, uniquely and individually created by God to fulfill a specific purpose as a part of the whole. I know that’s a mouthful, but I’d want them to understand that there is no one like them-no one has ever had the set of finger prints God has given to them and no one ever will. They must know how special they really are! This includes both their outward appearance and their inward personalities. Yet they mustn’t allow society to either cause them to become conceited-because they meet certain standards and/or fit or supersede the norms it has created. And likewise, they mustn’t allow society to cause them shrink back or lower their self esteem because it has said they don’t measure up and will never fit in. I’d want them to know God makes no mistakes!

God created all of us for unity and community, but uniformity-not so much. But the enemy has thrown in a serious monkey wrench; one which makes it difficult for the fellowship which the LORD has always desired for us to have to exist. Two of the main deterrents are racism and rejection. Satan has cleverly taken the raw materials of our sin nature-that is our shallowness and inability and unwillingness to remain open to that which isn’t our norm or our experience-and from that he has constructed two very formidable institutions which continue to disrupt and deter us from accepting, embracing, and loving one another.

So how do we fight this? How can we overcome such a seemingly impenetrable strong-hold? I believe there are two issues at hand. The first being an internal one, the second external. We must always begin with self. And self can’t be fully recognized apart from the ONE who created us as individuals. It must be noted that while God wants us to love ourselves, we were never meant to allow that realization to cause us to live apart from Him. We were in fact, created for His glory. We were created for a purpose designed specifically by Him, uniquely for us. So one can never truly know, embrace or realize self apart from knowing God.

This is where Christ comes in. He is the One, the part of the triune God-Head who took on flesh, became a man, died for our sins and resurrected from the dead. But why did He do it? Well in the most simplest terms He did it to save us. To pay the price for the sins we’ve committed which separate us from God; to offer us eternal life. We were never created to be apart from HIM; we were created to be with HIM forever.

But Jesus also died for us to reconcile us to The Father. He came so that we could know Him and in turn we’d also get to know who we were truly created to be. He came to redeem us and restore us. The Bible clearly teaches that the devil comes to steal, kill, rob and destroy. The best of who we were meant to be becomes broken through our sin nature and the tactics of the enemy. But God. He says to us child do you know “you were fearfully and wonderfully made”? It is like telling us we are so precious, so importantly delicate, that HE trembled as He made us, desiring us to be just right-just as HE intended. And so we are. But most of us don’t know it. We’ve allow the hurt of life, the pain of rejection, and the societal norms to deceive us. We believe the lies that say we’re not pretty or handsome enough, not cool or creative enough, not worthy or lovely enough. We’ve allowed sin to pervert us. All lies! Jesus says we were worth dying for!

So we have to get this thing right. Everything about us-how we look and how we laugh-at the foundation is just as the LORD intended. But we have all become chameleons of sorts-allowing circumstances-both experiences and exposures to redesign us so that we can survive and fit in. Only God can restore us to our original condition. We must come to know Him through belief in the finish work Jesus did on the cross. And then we must walk closely with Him so that He can refine and restore us as He meticulously removes the dross-which is all the perversions we’ve allowed to infiltrate our minds, our hearts and our spirits. Those things which have clouded our perception of ourselves and covered up the truth of who we really are and were created to be.

Once this is straight, it is then and only then that we can get out there and make our impact externally. It is only then we can successfully contribute to unification and be the part in the community which the LORD predetermined for us and predestinated us for (in the world working, yet still not of the world). The saying goes “one rotten apple spoils the bunch.” But that’s not hard when the whole bunch in reality has been rotting from the inside to begin with. The truth is one righteous apple can greatly contribute to healing of the whole. Each of us, once in Christ have been made healthy from the inside out. The Holy Spirit now living in us will be working in and through us to affect the lives of others. It is such a powerful thing that as He touches us and we in turn touch those around us, we begin to move closer and close to realizing our purposes.

Racism and rejection is taught is true, but it’s almost to easy for us to organically fall for. Human beings are naturally too fearful to allow themselves to experience the discomfort of doing life with that which is unfamiliar and foreign to them. We don’t enjoy being challenged and stretched. But the mere fact that God allowed His creation to look differently and to act differently (I’m speaking of our unique cultures) affirms that this too is a part of our purpose. I’m a firm believer that we are better together than apart. Of course none of it is possible without Christ at the center. We must first know Him so we can embrace ourselves; and then we will be able through Him to embrace each other.

Think of it as an enormous puzzle in which all of the complex pieces were meant to fit in different ways perfectly together. The confrontational balances the cautious; The reserve balance the rowdy; The contemplative balances the creative, so on and so forth and vice versa for each of them. Get the picture? Our differences are meant to complement one another, not compete. God is a God of order not derision.

Louis Armstrong wrote a lovely song called “What a Wonderful World.” Indeed it was created to be and one day it will be exactly that. But until then we have a Wonderful Counselor Who calls each of us to Himself. He came to redeem us and cause us to rise up. We have work to do to prepare for His Wonderful Kingdom to come. The work begins within us and then we can do the work He’s called us to do, outside of us.

Embrace Christ, receive Him. And He will forgive, heal, and restore you. He will give you eternal life and everlasting purpose. You each have been called to shine for Him in a way quite like no one else can. He knows all the stars in the night sky by name. If He has given them a unique identity, how much more are you uniquely called and appointed by Him?

I leave you with one of the most beautiful Scriptures which shouts from the mountain tops your worth and value to the LORD. In it the LORD also told Jeremiah his purpose. Through the prophet Jeremiah the LORD also says this to you “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 A prophet in today’s sense is one who speaks the Word of God into the lives of others. We do this through our voice but also through the way in which we love others and live for HIM.

HEART TO HEART: MAY YOU BELIEVE IN JESUS, MAY YOU KNOW HIM, MAY YOU LOVE AND ACCEPT YOURSELF BECAUSE OF HIM, MAY YOU LOVE OTHERS THROUGH HIM, AND MAY YOU LIVE FULLY FOR HIM, AMEN.