Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
12 13 2024
The Endless Search to Measure Up.
I was surfing and found a movie that tells the story of a man who is kind of a gatekeeper, interviewing potential human souls in a liminal space before they are born on Earth, essentially deciding who is deemed worthy of life by testing their understanding of human emotions and experiences. He recruited other people to help him view the lives of other people while still in their mother’s womb. Based on how their lives played out, the watcher would decide if they were worthy of living. Those that were not deemed good enough were in some way aborted. I know; how did Dennis get hooked on a movie like that? But interestingly, I wondered how different that was from the way we or others judge our fellow man today in real life. If someone does not respond or react the way they think is normal, decent, or according to our way of thinking, then they judge them negatively. And we can imagine what the exchange between the two would surface with that type of filter set in place.
I wondered how these judges, for lack of a better word, would consider someone who struggled with depression or low self-esteem. Someone who had been bullied or not given a lot of attention as a latchkey kid and learned their value as a human from the streets or not at all. Or perhaps someone who might be suffering from a chronic illness or possibly fatal disease that went in and out of remission. Would they have been aborted because of not having sufficient value to the human race…
In the judges’ eyes?
I see over 100 men come every Monday for our Courageous Men’s Group. I wondered, how many do we know that don’t believe they are very good.. that are beat down, and honestly don’t feel they are worth that much? They often feel like they’re faking life, so they might be accepted as something other than a failure more times than he has been a success, in their own eyes. Sometimes, we all wonder about ourselves. Often times it’s a fleeting glance of ourselves, of being lesser than THEM. Like being near the bottom of the ones picked to be on the team. Never the first most wanted. And over the years, too many people, including our kids, who haven’t even lived life yet, have come to accept that about themselves. Almost like everything that did not take you to the top was another miny failure.
Like doing a good job is not good enough. I need to be THAT to see myself as something special, and if I can’t, I must not be. In fact, that leaves one to be lesser than…scraping by, until we are resigned to the fact, in our mind, that we are inferior and, subsequently, not good enough. When we see through that filter, how negative might that impact everything else you do and say and ultimately become?
Wow, Dennis, this is holiday time, aren’t we all supposed to be happy and joyous?
Yes, I think we should all be, but way too many of us are not. Many of our kids and friends are caught in the destructive trap of the worthlessness of Satan because John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:” What better way than to assassinate ourselves by the way we think. People who see everything or most things they do as a failure
can’t help but see themselves as some shade of worthless and even shameful.
And they feel so much they just want to feel nothing and go numb to the world.
Isn’t that what’s happening to many people who are hung up on drugs or alcohol?
How many of those are there among us?
Numb makes them feel safe; at least, it is an escape for a while. But at some point, and in so doing, they poison the rest of themselves, and inside, I think they feel that too. It’s a self-defeating prophecy.
But God sees something much more. He truly saw us before time began. He had a vision of what we would one day become, and He holds the treasure of those thoughts…even beyond that, he holds the measure of that truth of who you will one day become. Jer 29:11 He sees beyond the failures, pain, and insecurities and what we are hiding, even from ourselves.
He takes away this seemingly endless search to measure up. Hoping to have something more than the potential to fail or lose or die. But instead, the God of all our seasons, gives us the strength, the courage, and the fortitude to persevere and rise again because there is a new vision and new purpose living inside us.
There is a joy in being reborn. A measure beyond the explainable comes by the power of His Holy Spirit initially as some small understanding of an unfathomable God. The origin of all truth, goodness, and Agape love. Born again.
When we surrender to God and trust His Spirit to be who He says He is, we become No longer invisible; I don’t think I can explain it. God fills us, and we see a glimpse of something we have never seen before… and He is alive, and we become alive and seen, valued and forgiven.
A New birth, new life, a new mind, and a fresh way of thinking. A new joy, a new purpose, and a future only attainable through Jesus the Christ. Finally, they discover the treasure of the Almighty Himself… to eternity everlasting… Man becomes the evolving masterpiece of what He has created and purposed, and they are gifted with the joy of seeing. Colossians 1:16, states: “For by him all things were created, that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”.
We are more than just human beings. We have the promise and the hope of an eternal existence with the Almighty himself. That scripture says He is the purpose…which means you were made by Him, and you were made for Him. vs. 17 says, “He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together.” He told us distinctly that he has prepared a place for those who love him, believe in his death and resurrection, and are surrendered to his sovereignty, Revelation 21:4, states, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”. This verse describes a future heavenly realm where all suffering and sorrow are completely absent, signifying a state of ultimate peace and comfort.
His is “the hope” focused on eternity… the future, not just the present life. The ultimate hope is not just to be in heaven, but to have a personal relationship with God. That begins now! We can know His peace and purpose in the midst of every storm because of knowing where our hope comes from.
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Lauren Daigle – Noel
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