Wednesday's thoughts

"Don't Laugh at Me"

I have wondered what we do with the comments people make about us; sometimes to our faces and sometimes behind our backs. It certainly isn't just a problem for children; adults and teenagers have the same issues.

You want to destroy the ego of a teenager you spread a rumor and get a group of peers laughing at him or her. You want to ruin the life of an adolescent it doesn't take much to make them doubt themselves and flounder around wondering what they should be doing and how they should behave.

Adults are a little more insulated but not immune. Careers can be ruined by insults that are spread. An adult may work really hard and may come to the point of some manner of accomplishment but then the rejection hits and it hits very hard and it hurts and it hurts for a long, long time.

In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 18:15ff) we find Jesus giving important advice to his followers as to what they might do if they are mistreated. It involved confrontation, convening a committee, and walking away.

Paul (Romans 13:10) writes about how, "love does not wrong to a neighbor..."

When people call us names, the best way to handle that is to take the name and make it famous. They they laughed at John Wesley and called him a name, the name became "Methodist" and he made it famous. When they made fun of the disciples who followed Christ they called them names, and the church took the name and made it famous and they were called "Christians".

Whatever name they call us. We can take the name and do something with it and it will define us in a good way.

Have people called you names; laughed at you. Can you/did you take the name and make it famous? How did you do it?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have people read your response click on the box below.


I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster