Tag Archives: biblical

The One Reason You Deserve Massive Respect

Imagine you take your car or truck to a mechanic, and just as you walk out, you notice something. On the floor is a towel with one of your favorite pictures of yourself on it. But people are not respecting it. They walk right across your likeness over and over, wiping their shoes on it as they go. Then you notice more. The cashier has begun cleaning the desk with another towel bearing the same photo, wiping up grease and spilled coffee. She sees the angst on your face and dismisses your concern with, “Oh, we go through a lot of those, about a thousand every three months. This place stays a mess. We always keep a bunch of boxes in the back.”

You would likely find that behavior rather offensive. It’s not because of the inherent value of the cloths, though. It’s because of whose image is on it.

Similarly, you and I and all humans deserve tremendous respect for one reason only – we bear God’s image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). We have his photo printed on us, so to speak.

To say it a different way, everything good about you is part of God that He put on display through you. Creativity, love of music, healing the sick, and being organized are a few things that were present in God first, which he maybe now puts on display through you. That is precisely why you have those characteristics. We might say he created you so he could tell the world, “This is an example of what I am like.” Other good traits about Him – and you – may include being scientific, a good leader, a good listener, or a nature lover. He loves animals. He loves babies and little kids. He likes strength. Loyalty and honesty in friendship are high priority for him, and love is of utmost importance.

That is exactly why you deserve to be treated with dignity, and it means so many things for you. It’s ok for you to stand up for yourself (e.g., “Treat me with dignity or we can’t be close”), or even to leave an abusive relationship. Abuse is never how his image – you – deserves to be treated. Even if someone dislikes you, they still owe you dignity. Nobody gets to say or act like you are worthless or ‘less than’ or an unwanted mistake. Those are lies, because God and God alone has the right to define you, no one else. After all, he made you in his image, with his photo printed on you. We aren’t equal with God, but he did fashion us to portray him in many ways.

It’s ok for you to have an opinion because you matter. When someone cuts you down for feeling upset, excited, or any other feeling, they have made a grave mistake. That’s because God’s image deserves never to be insulted or invalidated. You reflect God’s nature by the good things in you, so nobody gets to tell you your feelings are stupid. Not all emotions are healthy to hold onto, and many should never be acted upon. But, you have the right to feel what you feel. Even your emotions are part of God sharing with the world a sample of what he is like, because he had emotions first. They’re part of Who He Is.

He wept, John 11:35.

He grieved, Luke 19:41-44.

He got angry over injustice and hypocrisy, Luke 11:37-52.

He felt joy, John 15:11.

He had compassion, Mark 6:34.

Everything good about you is God showing the world, “This is what I am like.” And that is why you deserve massive respect.

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You may also enjoy Boundaries as an Act of Worship in Three Paragraphs, https://freespiritseedcompany.com/2023/03/19/boundaries-as-an-act-of-worship-in-three-paragraphs/,

and Everything Good About You is Part of God that He Put on Display Through You, https://freespiritseedcompany.com/2025/02/11/everything-good-about-you-is-part-of-god-that-he-put-on-display-through-you/

Everything Good About You Is Part of God that He Put on Display Through You

How many of these he has displayed through you?

Creative
Healer
Forward thinking
Imaginative
Compassionate to the underprivileged
Loves to sing
Loves animals
Artistic
Strong
Influential
Organized
Free Spirited
A good leader
Visionary
Loves relationships
Good at expressing yourself
Stalwart
Has good boundaries
Loves babies and children
Mechanically inclined
Science lover
Good at math
Poet
Likes to write
Very competitive
Sensitive
Laughs
Gardener
Likes a pleasing aroma
Feels things deeply
Passionately pursue who you love

A Letter to My Children

There is a strange little treasure in this verse.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

You will find as you continue maturing that things you enjoy satisfy up to a point. That is good. They are gifts from God to you personally. Yet there’s this threshold beyond which they just don’t fill you.

Everything good comes from God to point us back to him.

You see it in the culture and hear it in music – people searching and trying everything to fill them up. People look in love, money, fame, but they can tell something’s still missing. Maybe the most classic line is “I can’t get no satisfaction. I try and I try and I try and I try, but I can’t get no satisfaction.”

If you want your heart and soul and mind to be filled to the top, hunger and search for righteousness. People who do that will be satisfied.

The reason they – and only they – will indeed be satiated is because fullness of joy is found only in God himself.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭16‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If you hunger for righteousness and holiness, you are hungry for God.

Food and romance, influential power and wealth don’t quench our desires all the way down for a reason. They were only ever meant to point away from themselves to God. That’s why he invented them.

“What do you have that you did not receive?” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬a. The implication is that truly everything we have is a gift. Even the things we got through our own hard work, we still received because the ability to work hard is a gift from God.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭17a‬. That is, everything good that we have is a gift specifically from none less than our Creator.

Fame, romance, money and relationships are not evil. God will give them to his people in inconceivable abundance in the next life, and in smallish ways in this one. Both here and in Heaven, they are gifts from God to draw our attention to the Giver.

Everything good comes from God to point us back to him.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We must let all the Good Yet Not Totally Satisfying things of earth draw our attention upward into hunger for God. Then our appetites will be fully satisfied.

You’re Broken, Not Defective

You might be broken, but you’re not defective. They’re not the same thing, not at all.

You could think of it like this. You make a clay pot and put it in the kiln. When you take it out, the handle falls off, and the bottom crumbles. That’s defective. It wasn’t made well. It’s junk. You make another clay pot and it turns out beautiful. Then someone drops it on the floor. Now it’s broken. It was made perfectly, but later it got damaged.

That is me, and maybe you, too. Most importantly, it’s Jesus. Brokenness is something he, you, and I all have in common. He was perfect, but he got thrown on the floor and broken. He was abused, taken advantage of, and violated in the worst possible way. (See also
https://freespiritseedcompany.com/2022/01/22/2/)

He was broken — all the way broken — maybe just like you.

Your heavenly Father defines who you are, not your brokenness.

He was forsaken by his friends, beaten repeatedly, tortured.

But that is very different from being defective.

Your heavenly Father defines who you are, not your brokenness. Not other people. And not even you. He made you wonderful, the Bible says (Psalm 139:14). He is The Highest Artisan, and he personally handcrafted you, right there in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).

Maybe someone lied and said you’re a mistake, an accident, should never have been born. I’m gonna be honest and say your Creator drew the detailed blueprints for you way before you were ever conceived. Before time began, to tell the truth. So no, you’re no accident. You have purpose. You should ask him to reveal that to you. It might be as simple as, “He put me here to praise him.”

A defective pot is worthless and useless. But a handsome, beautiful pot that has been shattered only needs to be put back together. He can do that with you, just like happened with Jesus. It’s his specialty.

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” ‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

That is an agricultural image. Picture endless miles of crops. Millions of insects descend on it, devour, and leave it in shreds. Maybe that is like many of the years in your life. It is mine. Somehow, he is slowly restoring to me ‘the years the locust has eaten,’ piece by piece. He’s putting my broken pieces back in place. It’s mysterious, but he can repay to you everything you lost, as he promised. Just keep following him, and don’t give up.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬
If he can make us from the dust, can’t he remake us, too?

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It’s Ok If You’re Afraid

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32

Somebody is afraid. Maybe with good reason. God is not angry at you for feeling scared. Are you going to bring it to him? Or carry it yourself. He is not mad, but just understand you don’t have to be afraid.

Isn’t that what Psalm 23 is about? “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” That means you’re surrounded by evil. It’s dark, shadowy. The normal response is to fear. Father says you can be inside the evil and not fear it because He is with you in it.

Five Verses for Easter 2023

I’ve spliced into these verses another name of Jesus found elsewhere in the Bible.  Each is in all caps.

“Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged JEHOVAH, delivered him to be crucified.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27‬:‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And THE ALMIGHTY said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When YAHWEH had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” ‭‭John‬ ‭19‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But when they came to the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO IS, AND WHO WAS, AND WHO IS TO COME, and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” ‭‭John‬ ‭19‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered THE CREATOR up to be condemned to death, and crucified him… And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.” ‭‭‭‭Luke‬ ‭24‬:‭13‬-‭14‬, ‭19‬-‭20‬, 31 ‭ESV‬‬

Boundaries as an Act of Worship, in Three Paragraphs

God has boundaries. He says if we are going to come to him, we have to come through Jesus, and that’s how it’s going to be. If we want to draw even closer to him, we must treat him with respect and humility. If we do, we’re welcome into his personal space, if not, we are not.

Because he loves us, he’s in the business of replacing our human-minded ways with his more deeply satisfying ones. He is, in fact, making us just like himself. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV‬‬. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬a ESV‬‬

We worship him by our actions when we behave just like him. Our lifestyle is a constant, moment by moment declaration to God that we love him when we celebrate the things that bring him pleasure, cherish what he loves most, hate what he despises, and have healthy boundaries. Just like him.

They Know

“And behold, they [demons] cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

They know there is a set hour for their judgment, and that Jesus personally will carry that out. He will give them every last ounce of what they deserve. They aren’t in denial about it.

I eagerly await the day he says, “That is enough,” and they afflict us humans no more. We will never be tempted to fear, to hate, to resent, or to be prideful again. No more oppression. No sowing discord between people. No more lies. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. The last demonic deception will come and go, and that will be that.

He will unleash his wrath and torment those who tormented us.

These verses are not about the judgment of devils, but I think they’re still true about them.

Jesus is a Warrior. “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭15‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, [says the LORD] …For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants…”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭32‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

There is hope at the end of all our suffering because of Jesus (if we have a personal relationship with him now)! Pain will end. Peace will never end.

As the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” celebrates:

The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, [the name of JESUS!]
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.

The Grass on Your Shoe

Next time you walk into your house with a piece of grass on your shoe, think about this scripture. Then maybe upgrade the way you think about your enemies (physical, political, etc.).

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass [tan wisps on your shoe that degrade into dust] and wither like the green herb.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭37‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV

Maybe fear, anger, or bitterness are not the best response. If we saw them how God does, we would ‘fret not’ because they are already fading like dead, brown grass.

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