Derailed

We just spent the day with our youngest two grandchildren. Sam and I spent a lot of time playing racecars.

He has this amazing track with remote controlled cars and I love playing with him. There were a few times that the cars got off centered. Sam got so frustrated when his car was derailed. Oddly, it didn’t bother him a bit when it was my car.

It made me evaluate my reaction when things in life seem to derail me and stop my forward momentum. One of the biggest factors in causing me to lose my perspective comes in the form of criticism and character assignation.

Have you ever fallen into the trap of defending yourself? Have you ever been misjudged or maligned and step up quickly in your own defense? Me too! Not a good place to be. But there is something in all of us that desires to be well thought of.

The only opinion we should care about is the Lord’s. In His eyes we are loved unconditionally, and He holds us in a place of high regard, He holds us in His heart.

We should not care about man’s opinion, it will distract us from doing what God has called us to do.

“Think of us as servants of Christ who have been given the work of explaining God’s mysterious ways. 2 And since our first duty is to be faithful to the one we work for, 3 it doesn’t matter to me if I am judged by you or even by a court of law. In fact, I don’t judge myself. 4 I don’t know of anything against me, but that doesn’t prove that I am right. The Lord is my judge. 5 So don’t judge anyone until the Lord returns. He will show what is hidden in the dark and what is in everyone’s heart. Then God will be the one who praises each of us.” I Corinthians 4:1-5 CEV

I heard one teacher talk about handling criticism and lies like this. We are  a runner in the race of life. When we hear the crowd yelling all sorts of disparaging remarks we need to stay on the track, keep moving forward. If we try to defend ourselves it’s as if we get off the track and run up in the stands to talk to the crowd. We lose momentum and ultimately, we fail to complete the course.

It’s far better to keep running and let God be our defense.

“People will make weapons to fight against you, but their weapons will not defeat you. Some people will say things against you, but anyone who speaks against you will be proved wrong”.”

The Lord says, “That is what my servants get! They get the good things that come from me, their Lord.” Isaiah 54:17 ERV

We simply need to be faithful and let the Lord be the judge. Paul was a living example of being judged falsely and still being faithful to his calling. He was beaten, imprisoned, stoned many times and he just kept on preaching.

“If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. ¹⁸ Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone. ¹⁹ My friends, don’t try to punish anyone who does wrong to you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. In the Scriptures the Lord says, “I am the one who punishes; I will pay people back.” Romans 12:17-19 ERV

Again, it comes back to a matter of focus and whose opinion we consider the most important in our lives. Is it man or is it our God? I had to continually remind myself, God’s point of view is the preeminent one.

Truthfully, this was a hard lesson for me to learn. I spent the first 20 years of my life always trying to please people. I wanted to be liked, a part of the “in crowd”. That’s a very heavy weight to bear and it can be devastating when those people begin to belittle you.

Then I read these Scriptures. I committed them to memory and daily I reminded myself of how God felt about me. I realized I AM part of the “in” crowd, I am “in Christ”.

“So, what should we say about this? If God is for us, no one can stand against us. And God is with us. 32 He even let his own Son suffer for us. God gave his Son for all of us. So now with Jesus, God will surely give us all things. 33 Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one! God is the one who makes them right. 34 Who can say that God’s people are guilty? No one! Christ Jesus died for us, but that is not all. He was also raised from death. And now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us.” Romans 8:31-34 ERV

Don’t be derailed by the opinions of others.

Keep looking at the Father and you’ll stay on track!