Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. After I stepped outside onto the cold porch to see what kind of day I was being blessed, I settled down at my warm desk with the front-row view of the farm. The front lawn was filled with furry friends in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but I set my eyes on this one and we stared at each other for what seemed like the longest time. Every once in a while she would inch a little closer to the porch and we’d each get a closer look at each other. Those moments with my furry friend caused me to think about how it is when we slow down and determine to love and respect everyone (and everything) God has Created, we don’t see “threat” or “enemy” anymore, we just see the Hand of God. Isn’t it just like my God to use a stare-down with a deer to ignite a Message in my Heart?

If I were to paraphrase what God said to Job right after He warned him to “brace yourself like a man” I would have to say that God was asking Job “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” God goes on to remind Job of all the wonders of Creation that wouldn’t be possible without Him and the more God speaks, the smaller Job feels. In fact, Job feels so low in comparison to the Most High God that he thinks it would have been best had he never been born. In the Big Scheme of things, Job didn’t do a lot of “harm” but He offended the Creator of All by assuming to know the Mind of God. I can’t help but wonder, how many times a day…an hour…a minute…does God get impatient with us as we Profess to Know His mind? “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” How many times a day…an hour…a minute…does God’s anger or disappointment rage as He sees the way we stare at people who aren’t the same as we are and how effortlessly we show contempt for another one of His Creations. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

People of Faith can be the world’s worst judges of other people and the very reason so many people want nothing to do with Jesus because of it. Like the Pharisees, they show contempt when people don’t act the way they think they should and they aren’t afraid to announce their wrongs to the world as if they’ll get some sort of Award in Heaven for judging other people not like them. “WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?” I’m convinced that if everybody would take a long hard (honest) look at their own lives, it wouldn’t take long for them to stop judging the lives of others and they’d be wishing they’d been born just like Job did when they stand before an angry and disappointed God. He KNOWS WHO WE ARE and He doesn’t need a stare-down to figure things out. He sees the brokenness. He sees the sin. He sees the judgment. He sees the hate. He sees it all AND He paid the price for it all when He died on the Cross. When you look at it that way ‘WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” to EVER look at someone else with anything less than Love?

I’m an imperfect woman living an imperfect life BUT I love Jesus more than I love air…and it shows. When I took that long hard look at my own life, and I realized that He Loves me despite everything I’ve ever done, said, or thought that goes against Him and that He died on that Cross to pay the price for my sins, I reacted like Job did at first. I cried. I was so ashamed of myself and I too thought it would have been better had I never been born…BUT that feeling didn’t last long. My Shame was turned into Joy and I spend most of my Time telling other people how Great God is instead of staring at others just so that I can point out how flawed they are. WHO DO I THINK I AM? That’s simple. I’m a child of the Living God! I’m Royalty! I’m a sinner that WAS lost but NOW I’m found. I was blind but now I see. I’m Victorious and I’m Heaven-bound. Being grateful for these things is a Full Time Job and there isn’t the time OR the inclination to stare at another one of His Creations or to Judge what only He can. I don’t see “threat” or “enemy” anymore…only the Hand of God in ALL He has Created.

How about you?