The
way
we see our circumstances is often as important as the
circumstances
themselves. To illustrate
that point, a
Yale University professor told about a friend of his who had a job
interview. She got up
early, dressed in her
nicest clothes and arrived at office building early for her 11
o’clock
appointment. She took a
seat in the
waiting room and was somewhat surprised when, at 10:45, she was
called into the
room. “They must be
running early” she
thought.
A
few
days later the boss called and offered her the job. He then mentioned that he was
very impressed
with how she handled herself despite the circumstances. “What circumstances?” she
asked. “Well, most people
would have been terribly
nervous and apologetic had they shown up 45 minutes late, but you
acted as if
nothing was wrong at all” he replied. That
is when she realized that the interview was really scheduled for
10 am. Thinking that she
was early, this woman was
completely relaxed which surprised the boss so much that he hired
here because
of her unflappable nature. Had
she known
she was late, she would have been a wreck, but her perception of
being early
caused her to act differently.
The King James
Version translates
Proverbs 23:7 by saying, “As a man thinks, so is he”. If that is true, then, it is
worth asking,
“How do we see ourselves spiritually?” The
Bible gives us several pictures to guide our thinking here.
First, you are a
child of the
king. I John 3:1 says,
“See what great
love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God!
And that is what we are!”
Secondly, we are
“Christ’s
ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Both of those
thoughts remind us
that we represent someone else. We
come
in the name of the King and we come with his power.
Here is a third,
possibly less
intimidating, picture to ponder: You
are
a container. A vessel. “We have this treasure in
jars of clay to
show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us”
(2 Corinthians
4:7). The focus here is on
the treasure,
not the container itself. In
other
words, it is not about you, but rather about what God has done in
and through
you.
As Christian people,
we make a
huge mistake when we assume that we have no power and can do
nothing.
We need a different
picture.
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