Hello My Name Is......

Happy New Year from the Butler's Pantry!

We have been watching the show The Chosen. We're up to season 2, episode 5, entitled The Spirit. The episode in part tells the story of a demon-possessed man who stumbles his way into the disciples' camp. In the encounter, he speaks with Mary (who previously had been set free from demonic possession. At the time, she was working as a prostitute named "Lilith". Jesus called her by her true name of Mary, and the demons left her). Mary approached the man, asking his name. The demon responded and spoke directly to Mary, calling her Lilith, and informing her, that the demons knew her and recognized her. This visibly disturbed Mary. Upon Jesus' return, he cast out the demons, but Mary, grabbed her bag, and in distress, made her way back into town. She went directly back to the place where she used to entertain men. She fell into this life, clearly sad, understanding she was making a choice that went against everything Jesus had done and provided for her, and yet.. she did it anyway. She stayed there in her misery until Jesus sent disciples to retrieve her.

This was the catalyst of a recent conversation we had. I had noticed that we know a lot of people, who have had individuals in their lives that have spoken horrible things about them. Children are like little sponges. What you give them, they absorb whether it's true or not. As adults, sometimes, what they absorbed, isn't helpful. Examples of this would be, being repeatedly told they were "no good", they couldn't do anything "right", they never got the (long) list of family rules and behaviors exactly right, and they were "useless". Sometimes, it's a parent, a bully, or someone who quite honestly, is sad and miserable in their own lives, and can only function by ensuring someone else is as miserable as them.

So, imagine growing up like that.. that is the voice in your head.. you're not good enough, you're a disappointment, you're a failure, you're unlovable, unwanted, and you only provide value if you can contribute but when you contribute, it's belittled. It's an ugly way to live. A lot of people who were raised this way, or a variation of this way are happy, fully functional adults. ... and yet...

These adults have their own families, and their own homes, some with degrees, advanced degrees, corporate careers, successful entrepreneurs, and happy marriages. They are far from the voices that spoke hate and failure into their lives. However, in the silence with the absence of that voice of failure, they begin to echo the voice. Think about it. How many people do you know who will make some seemingly insignificant mistake, and follow that up with "Man, I am so stupid", how about "I'm an idiot"? People who are so intelligent that you wonder how they carry the weight of their heavy brains.. will stand there and speak out of their mouths, the echo of the voice that told them they were unintelligent.

Why do we do that? WHY in the absence of the voice that lied and told us we were without value, do we echo that voice instead of echoing what God says about who we are?

"It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to." W.C. Fields

Yes, so many of us STILL answer to, "lazy", "fragile", "stupid", "useless", and "unwanted." Not only answering to that, but speaking it ourselves. Like Mary, we hear the name someone used to call us, and it causes us to fall back into old ways of behaving, thinking, and speaking. We consider ourselves imposters in life. If people "really knew" what we were (insert echo here) then they would never want to be around us. We feel unworthy of trust (I messed up too many times), love (I've done horrible things), or happiness (I'm a terrible person).

We're here to tell you today, that you do not have to echo those voices. You do not even have to acknowledge that used to be what you were called! YOU can choose to speak what God says about you. Need some ideas? How about these:

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9 NLT

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalms 139:14 NKJV

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So the next time you start to echo a voice that no longer speaks, choose to replace that with an echo of the truth.

You are valuable.

You are loveable.

You are needed.

There cannot nor will there ever be anyone who can think the way you think, do the things you do. That very fact alone means, you are rare and valuable.

As always, friends, be well-fed. Until next time.