As an extraordinary coach, you are not exempt from the pitfalls where our minds can take us. You, too have blind spots that often rise up and bit you when you least expect it. Whether or not you line up on the side of some issues may not be the merit of the situation but may simply be the result of your preconceived notion about the topic. This blog addresses just that.
A woman recently took an onslaught of criticisms when she tweeted something to the effect the people protesting the flag in the National Football League games simply need Jesus. Using a tweet for such a profound statement may have been a mistake on her part, but suffice it to say that not only do the people protesting need Jesus, the people that they are accusing of racism need Jesus. The policemen allegedly shooting the hapless black victims needs Jesus. The hapless black victims need Jesus. Everyone needs Jesus. That is my point of view.
I want to point out that she was free to say what she said and she was free to take the criticism that she received because of it as I am. You can agree or disagree with the whole subject of Jesus Christ is you want to but the subject of Jesus Christ is actually not as toxic as some people want it to be and it's not as exceptional as other people want it to be. What is of note though is the different way that we all think of Jesus Christ. God, Jesus Christ in the flesh, gave each of us this fantastic mind we have and with this mind we have the freedom to think anything that we want.
He also provided with His word in the Bible and gave us many different principles that we can live by and those principles have come to my rescue on more than one occasion. For instance, many people spend their lives looking for love. Some people like the Dalai Lama says that human beings were made to be loved. I don't necessary agree with that because according to the Bible love is something that you do and it is an act of your will. The Bible tells us to love everybody. It even tells us to love our enemies and tells us to love the people that do us wrong and it also tells us to love ourselves. It tells us to love our neighbor. In fact, as far as the Bible seems to be concerned, we are all made to love, not be loved.
In my never-to-be-humble opinion, when you learn the true strength of love you will seek to love at every opportunity you can because love really brings closure. In the world we find ourselves in, many people feel less than their best. Many people feel unloved and I suspect that these people feel unloved because they don't love. Because they don't walk in the greatness that Jesus Christ said that they are in.
Now you can use your mind to be hurt or you an use your mind to be fantastic. I use my mind to be fantastic and I commit to loving all human beings and that's loving them to the point of death.
If you think someone was killed unjustly, what do you propose to do about it? Do you propose that you want to kill somebody? Well, even if you don't want to kill somebody, if you choose just to be hurt, to be angry, the person is not going to come back to life so you are just stuck being hurt and being angry. Or you could do what Jesus' teachings say to do. You can forgive them because once you forgive them and provide closure, then you are free and you're no longer bound by the emotions that you have for the person who unjustly killed somebody.
This may seem like an over-simplification to you and it might be. Over-simplification though it is, when you walk around in unforgiveness that's akin to drinking poison and expecting somebody else to die because they won't die. But when you forgive people, you are free. A simple emotion like anger, have you ever been angry at anybody? Have you been angry at anybody to the degree that you felt like spitting nails, you felt like killing them, you felt like wrapping your fingers around their neck and squeezing? How did you feel afterwards? Some people may say that they felt good after expressing it but knowing what you did to another human being, I think most people would have to agree anger is its own punishment.
So back to these guys in the National Football League. Like many people, even the people who are criticizing them, these individuals are choosing to feel less than their best. The teachings of Jesus Christ say to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great Commandment. Loving one's self eliminates the fact that you're hurt. People who love themselves don't choose to be hurt, and ladies and gentlemen, I assure you being hurt is a choice. Whenever you think of a particular thing that someone said or particular thing that someone did, you have many ways to look at those things. When you consider that people have misunderstood your intentions, it's very easy to make a case for the fact that you can misunderstand other people's intentions as well.
When someone hurts you, there's no way that you can repay the hurt in kind just like they hurt you. If someone hurt you and you hurt them, well, the natural thing for human beings to do is for them to try to hurt you back and then you hurt them. And then you have a situation that is escalated and that happens all the time. The only way to end pain is to forgive and that is the lesson of Jesus Christ. If you only did one thing that Jesus Christ talks about, forgive, you would not find yourself on your knees because you think someone got treated unjustly.
My Pastor several years ago wrote a book entitled "Who Offended You and Stopped You From Receiving Your Miracle," and when you are offended, you can't receive a miracle. God cannot use you when you're offended because you are looking for some way to respond. You must come to the place where you forgive any and all offenses because to not do so just creates an environment for even more offense.
When my Pastor did this teaching he did an illustration where a person was offended and the offense was like a weight on their shoulder. So he had a guy stand up and another guy climb on his back, so walking around with offense, walking around with your feelings hurt, everything looks different. Everything looks like a pain, like some people say to a hammer everything looks like a nail, or to a person that's offended everything looks like an offense.
Then he saw how it happened and the person got offended the second time. So now he's walking around with two people on his back and he's weighed down even more. It is absolutely impossible to get the best out of your life walking around with offense.
It is difficult to embrace any of these principles because there are so many people willing to give you an excuse for being hurt. There are so many people willing to make a case for the fact that you've been done wrong. But you've got to realize that those people who make those excuses, those people are simply looking for entertainment. They're not looking to help you, and no matter how much they tell you that you got mistreated or how bad you feel about it or how many people say you're getting mistreated, none of that does any good into helping you move forward in your life.
The dirty little secret that many people don't have privy to is that you attract things to your life by the way that you think about your life. Whenever you think that you're hurt, you're going to attract more hurt into your life. So I urge you get Jesus if you don't have Jesus. Study how to forgive. Make a commitment that you are not going to walk around hurt. Make a commitment that pain is psychological and you can withstand whatever it is that comes your way. And it might be hard to do at first but after you do it a few times, it'll be easier. Believe me, I have forgiven a lot.
Don't buy into those people who tell you that you should be mad about this or that, because you shouldn't be mad about anything. When you're mad, you're the one that's mad. When you're hurt, you're the one that's hurt. So be strong and be courageous, and any thought that doesn't fill you with loving somebody, then you can stop thinking about that and think about something else.
Now if this has helped you, I appreciate you taking the time to read it, pass it on to somebody else, but don't pass it to somebody who is angry right now because they will simply negate its value. Pass it on to someone who may be able to use it later.The most common thing you get when you tell somebody that they're wrong, is some sort of defense and that helps no one. So I say to you, I've got Jesus. I need Jesus. And after reading this blog, you may have a better idea of what she meant by, "Duh, they need Jesus."
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