Don't Get Mad

 One time at dinner, my father said something about talking too much. He never used a name, but I remember saying something in my defense. My father pointed out the fact that no names had been mentioned, but since I felt the need to defend myself that meant this was a problem that I had. 
 Have you ever had a friend say something to you that really hurt your feelings? They pointed out something about the way you sing, for example, and you wanted to defend yourself. In your mind, your singing is not as bad as most people’s, and you had been working on it. We experience time after time when someone says something very small about the way we do something, and everything inside of us wants to go into defense mode. 
In the last few days, I have said some things to people that hurt their feelings and some people have said things to hurt mine. The hurt was caused by very minor statements. When looking back at my emotions because of the words exchanged, I could not get rid of the thought, “If what I did was perfect in every way, I would not be offended about the fact they said something to me.” Did Jesus ever explain or defend his actions to the people that scrutinized them? Did he ever get frustrated or angry at people because they judged him wrongly? A person who is an expert or a master at something will never make excuses, or try to explain why they messed up; they take the mess-up, evaluate it and do everything in their power to make sure it does not happen again.  If I was an expert in my walk with the Lord, I would not get mad at the fact someone pointed out a short-coming in my life. I would not try to find a way to explain my actions and thoughts. Little defeats would be accepted and learned from. Pride in us makes this task extraordinarily hard. To walk away after someone has torn us apart, saying, “Thank you,” goes against every fleshly muscle in our body. 
Next time, when someone says something to you, and you want to get mad, stop! And ask yourself if there is any truth at all in what they say. Simply, if it hurt, there must be some truth to what they say.

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” 

More often than not, our friends point out the faults in our lives because they truly believe that we will be better off knowing about them. Think of how hard it is to go to your friend and point out a shortcoming in their life. It is an action that should be applauded. 
There are also times that we as humans will get all tied in a knot over something that someone said offhandedly. The saying “Actions speak louder than words,” is very true. Most times when someone says something offhandedly, I do not so much care about what they said; I care about who heard it. What if people actually believed that I do something like that? People will not put full trust in something that they only hear once. If the statement is not true, there should not be a lot of persons going around telling other people about it. Therefore, that particular person who over heard that one comment about you will never hear another to match, unless it was true. Even if said person thought badly about you for what they heard, over time, your actions should be able to prove them wrong in their thinking. 
As sinful humans, we like to think the worst about people. In our minds, even our best friends are judging us and think badly about us. There will always be people out there that think badly of you, but if your actions are blameless before the Lord, you will not get mad or frustrated over this fact. When there is a need for correction and improvement in our life, that is when we are irritated by what people say and think. Even if the only improvement that needs to be made is the gaining of more humility, that in and of itself is a large task.   
   

Project: I do not have a project for you other than, pray. Ask the Lord to help you respond in humility when someone points out a fault. 

Follow-up: God has done a very good job of humbling me gently. I have asked a number of my friends the question for the month, and all of them have been gracious in giving me an answer. By His grace, I have not wanted to take up my defense for my actions...well... not too much, that is. There are still a few friends on my list that I want to ask my question to, but I am sure that even after I have gotten through my list, God will bring new ways for me to work on my humility. 

This next bit of news is only important for those of you who read my blog every month. There will be no more posts on this blog until after the new year. This post marks the first year anniversary of “All to the Glory of Christ” and I thank you so much for reading the random thoughts that God has given me. I am so thankful for all the comments that I have gotten. Some of you have written me letters, or just said something as you passed me in the hall at school. Those little words of encouragement  have given me the power to keep going and to make it to the one year mark. My reason for not posting until after the new year is so that I can focus on my walk with the Lord. Writing these blogs do not take large amounts of my time, but I do not want to be posting for posting’s sake. I want to seek the Lord for a few months and build up my relationship with him. There are a few things in my life that will take some time for me to get sorted out. I feel that it is important for me to get my pride under control before I continue posting here. Thank you once again for your support of my blog. Thank you for your prayers and your friendship.