As I was growing up, I was somewhere south of handsome. I was skinny, had either broken or twisted teeth, didn't take care of my appearance, and I didn’t know the first thing about mixing and matching my hand-me-down clothes. On top of that, I had complex complexes and was terribly shy. While I made excellent grades in college, I made awful grades in the years leading up to college. I really had very little if anything going for me as a person. If you were to look for me on the totem pole, you would have started at the bottom – not the top.
My dad loved to read, and he passed that love on to me. One day, while yet a teenager, I ran across a quote as I was reading.
· I don’t remember the name of the book.
· I don’t remember the name of the author.
· I can’t tell you what the book was even about.
· I can’t describe the cover of the book for you.
However, I will never forget that particular quote. That passage was used by the Lord to help change the course of my life. Here is the quote: “You’ll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.” I have since found the name of the originator of the quote -- David Foster Wallace. Thank you, Mr. Wallace.
Before I read that quote, I would sit around thinking that people were sitting around thinking about me-- my teeth, my weight, my poor grades, about how poor my family was. Me. Me. Me!!! When I wrap it in those terms, it sounds rather vain, doesn’t it?
To be sure, almost everyone has at one time or another worried about what other people think of them. But for that poor teenage boy so many years ago, such worry was almost incapacitating. It affected my thoughts toward myself:
· Who would like me?
· Who would marry me?
· Who would even hire me?
as well as my thoughts concerning other people.
I was held prisoner by my own low sense of self-esteem. Freedom did not seem to be an option for, again, I was held tight by something that I had no control over -- what I perceived to be other people’s thoughts! Yet again, God used an nondescript quote in an otherwise inconsequential moment to turn things around for me.
Consider this: Who was I thinking about so many years ago? Me. I was thinking of me! I have come to understand that is the norm. Most people were not sitting around thinking of me, they were doing what I was doing – they were sitting around thinking of themselves. It is a sad but simple truth that the average person filters their world through their ego, meaning that they think about most things in terms of “me”, “my” or "I”. If the truth be known, most folks don’t spend a great deal of time thinking about you or me at all!
Next, what people think of you cannot change who you are or what you are worth. People’s thoughts, even the ones about you … cannot add or subtract anything to or from you, unless you allow them to.
Sure, you might be embarrassed momentarily, but five years from now, or even five days from now,
how much will their fleeting opinions truly matter?
According to the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA, the average person thinks some 70,000 plus thoughts a day. Even if someone else thinks about you maybe ten times in one day, that is nothing compared to the sum-total of all of their thoughts. That is so inconsequential it is almost imperceptible.
Let me put it this way, if people work eight hours a day, and sleep eight hours a day, that leaves only another eight hours to devote to other things; things such as eating, playing, praying, exercising, studying, and so forth. In all honesty, how much of those eight hours do you think other people devote to thinking about you and your perceived short comings?
Don’t get me wrong. I do think that Christians do care about and think about other people. But, as a rule, they are not giving all that much thought to your nose, your weight, your teeth, your stuff. Oh, there may well be a fleeting thought now and then, and even a timely prayer on your behalf. But, let me say again, other people are not just sitting around filling their day with thoughts of you. That is, unless they are a teenager in love.
There is one though who does fill His day with thoughts of you. Psalm 139:17-18 (The Living Bible) says, “How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!”
The New Living Translation puts it this way, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” Rather than busy your mind with worries about other people’s opinions and thoughts, gravitate to what God says and thinks.
In conclusion, l want to challenge you to fill your mind with the truth of God’s thoughts rather than worry yourself over what other people might possibly be thinking of you.
The Redeemed Team
My dad loved to read, and he passed that love on to me. One day, while yet a teenager, I ran across a quote as I was reading.
· I don’t remember the name of the book.
· I don’t remember the name of the author.
· I can’t tell you what the book was even about.
· I can’t describe the cover of the book for you.
However, I will never forget that particular quote. That passage was used by the Lord to help change the course of my life. Here is the quote: “You’ll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.” I have since found the name of the originator of the quote -- David Foster Wallace. Thank you, Mr. Wallace.
Before I read that quote, I would sit around thinking that people were sitting around thinking about me-- my teeth, my weight, my poor grades, about how poor my family was. Me. Me. Me!!! When I wrap it in those terms, it sounds rather vain, doesn’t it?
To be sure, almost everyone has at one time or another worried about what other people think of them. But for that poor teenage boy so many years ago, such worry was almost incapacitating. It affected my thoughts toward myself:
· Who would like me?
· Who would marry me?
· Who would even hire me?
as well as my thoughts concerning other people.
I was held prisoner by my own low sense of self-esteem. Freedom did not seem to be an option for, again, I was held tight by something that I had no control over -- what I perceived to be other people’s thoughts! Yet again, God used an nondescript quote in an otherwise inconsequential moment to turn things around for me.
Consider this: Who was I thinking about so many years ago? Me. I was thinking of me! I have come to understand that is the norm. Most people were not sitting around thinking of me, they were doing what I was doing – they were sitting around thinking of themselves. It is a sad but simple truth that the average person filters their world through their ego, meaning that they think about most things in terms of “me”, “my” or "I”. If the truth be known, most folks don’t spend a great deal of time thinking about you or me at all!
Next, what people think of you cannot change who you are or what you are worth. People’s thoughts, even the ones about you … cannot add or subtract anything to or from you, unless you allow them to.
Sure, you might be embarrassed momentarily, but five years from now, or even five days from now,
how much will their fleeting opinions truly matter?
According to the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA, the average person thinks some 70,000 plus thoughts a day. Even if someone else thinks about you maybe ten times in one day, that is nothing compared to the sum-total of all of their thoughts. That is so inconsequential it is almost imperceptible.
Let me put it this way, if people work eight hours a day, and sleep eight hours a day, that leaves only another eight hours to devote to other things; things such as eating, playing, praying, exercising, studying, and so forth. In all honesty, how much of those eight hours do you think other people devote to thinking about you and your perceived short comings?
Don’t get me wrong. I do think that Christians do care about and think about other people. But, as a rule, they are not giving all that much thought to your nose, your weight, your teeth, your stuff. Oh, there may well be a fleeting thought now and then, and even a timely prayer on your behalf. But, let me say again, other people are not just sitting around filling their day with thoughts of you. That is, unless they are a teenager in love.
There is one though who does fill His day with thoughts of you. Psalm 139:17-18 (The Living Bible) says, “How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!”
The New Living Translation puts it this way, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” Rather than busy your mind with worries about other people’s opinions and thoughts, gravitate to what God says and thinks.
In conclusion, l want to challenge you to fill your mind with the truth of God’s thoughts rather than worry yourself over what other people might possibly be thinking of you.
The Redeemed Team
