Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Importance of Knowing How You Are Different

I’m different.
Not in a way that makes me better than you
Nor in a way that places me below you.
This is only possible because
you are different too.
Surprised?
Confused?
All–all–of humanity are His image bearers.
That is what (should) bind us all–all–together.
Yet, just as He did with the flowers
He gave us an array of differences.
To Him we are a beautiful arrangement.
Do we see all–all–of humanity that way?
We ignore and suppress how he uniquely formed us
and struggle to love how he uniquely formed others.
How did he uniquely form you?
Discover how you are different.
Proclaim how you are different.
The importance of knowing how you are different
cannot be understated.
It’s invaluable.
A powerful weapon in this dark world;
which is why it’s important for me to tell you,
I’m different.
People who accept being different,
who embrace being different,
will make a difference in this dark world.
They will be a brilliant light sending out beams of hope.
To the
disenfranchised,
mistreated,
undervalued,
less fortunate.
Those are the people who society points to and says,
“They’re different.”
But,
if you can re-program your soul,
embrace being different,
then you are ready to embrace all–all–humanity.
Just like Jesus did.

For most of my life I’ve struggled at embracing and loving how God formed me. God is helping to reconcile how I see myself to how he sees me. When we don’t love ourselves, we are hindered from fully loving others. We become distracted by how others see us, which limits us from loving others. The other day I watched a video of a man with Downs Syndrome testify of how he accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Many things about this video caught my attention, specifically how he described himself, different. I heard him say that word and immediately thought, “what a beautiful way to describe yourself.” Shortly after, God gave me these verses.

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