In Chapter 29, Job talks about how good he had it. He says that the young and old, powerful and weak, all respected him as he took his place of leadership in his community.
29:12 "Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel."
But by Chapter 30:10 "They abhor me; they keep aloof from me." All the respect he had was gone. All the good feelings others had towards him had vanished - all because he was suffering from the probably one of the worst trials ever to hit a man.
I'm not faulting Job here, but it made me wonder: how much of our self esteem is bound up in how other people feel about us? I admit this effects me too. If someone shows respect for me it certainly feels better than when they diss me.
But my point for today is this: when stuff goes bad and you are down and having a bad hair life and are not your best - don't worry so much about what other people think about you.
As a Christian, people are watching you. They learn from your life what Jesus is like and life in Him. But they learn best, not from when you are on top of the world but when you underneath it and its weight pushes down on you.
They learn that life is not a bed of roses but a bed of thorny blackberry bushes - and yet Jesus is there - healing, touching, forgiving, transforming the terrible into the holy.
So live life - the good and the bad. When the good comes rejoice. When the bad comes mourn, yet in it all do it in the face of God. Let people see the real you that God is working in and with. It'll draw more people to Christ than any sermon.
Pastor Tom
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