OPINIONS

There are many opinions being expressed today. All you have to do is watch a news channel such as CNN or Fox News to hear people giving their opinions.
Well, there are also opinions about us out there. Some are our opinions of ourselves, and some are opinions that others have of us. One of the keys of life is to decide whose opinion are we going to listen to about ourselves. Sometimes we can be too critical or too lenient in our opinion of ourselves. The same can be true of others opinions about us. So where do we go to get the correct opinion? I have found the Bible to be the truth of life.


We all need to learn to see ourselves from God's point of view. People will always have opinions. That is just how we are. But A. R. Bernard says that  the most important thing for us in the context of opinions, is God's opinion of us.

God's love for us is more than we can imagine. In fact, it is too big to comprehend. We do know however that He loves us so much that He was willing to die for us. We also know that when we accept Jesus into our hearts, that He comes and lives inside of us. We also know that He loves us so much that He offers us eternal life with Him.

Even in our challenging times, even though it can be hard to see, God is working in our lives.
   And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
                                                                   Romans 8:28 KJV

God also sees the potential that is inside of us. He sees what we can become because He is the One who created us. Since He sees our potential He never gives up on us. Even when others or maybe even we ourselves have given up on us, He hasn't.

There is a time in the Bible when the nation of Israel, God's chosen people had disobeyed Him and were suffering the consequences of their sin when God spoke these words to them," I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness." (Jeremiah 31:3)

I am pretty sure at that time that Israel was probably thinking that God did not love them. That He had a bad opinion of them. In fact, isn't that how we feel at times when we have blown it with God? We think that He has probably stopped loving us, or has given up on us. But He hadn't stopped loving them, nor has He stopped loving us in those times. Yes, Israel had to live with the consequences of their actions, just as we do. But God had not stopped loving them.

That story from the Bible is an example of why it is so important to read our Bibles. If we don't read the Bible, all we will receive is the world's point of view about us. Nearly everything that is going on around us is telling us that we don't measure up, that were not good enough or that we can't be happy without a certain product. This is why we need to continue to read the Bible and get God's opinion of us.

Now, since God has loved us with an everlasting love, what will we do in response to that love? Will we ignore it or embrace it? The decision, is ours and ours alone to make.

When we embrace God's love, we are forever changed. We begin to feel differently about others and ourselves. When we embrace His love we begin to sense His love for us. Then, when those difficult times come we can hopefully remember to think of God's opinion of us and not others or even our own negative opinions of ourselves.

Troy