It's Personal

I’ve always been the kind of person that although it seems I may not care what people think about me, I really do. I almost always want to leave any situation involving some type a relationship knowing that I’ve left it with a positive impression on that person. Because I’m a quiet person, I’ve often got the opposite reaction throughout my life. People have told me that only after years of getting to know me did they really know who I was. Yeah, unfortunately, my shyness or lack of an outgoing nature often came across as arrogant or indifference. But it is important to me how people feel about me. I guess being in sales that I have to make a living out of being liked. It is a constant battle though within me because I am a quiet, low key person.

More than once, I’ve left a situation really worried about a particular individual’s feelings by something very simple that I may have said, not intending to be offensive but worried later that it may have been taken a certain way. I find myself wanting to go and make sure that they are okay, their feelings are not hurt, and that they did not in fact misunderstand what I said.

I tell you this to say that it is not a regular occurrence for me to have personal conflicts with people. On some occasions though, I know people have left a conversation we’ve had with very negative feelings, and that was okay with me. Usually, not always, but usually after having time to think about it, I seek to either just move past it and forget about it or I seek to make sure that things get patched up, feelings are mended, and we both can move on. I think that is what God has called us to be as peace makers (a bit of a shout out to our current Bible study group).

This kind of leads me in to one of my favorite passages in scripture. It is a short statement that Jesus made that for most of my adult live I read through multiple times and never really noticed it. It speaks so wonderfully of the loving, human nature of Christ. It happens just after Jesus has risen from the dead and Mary Magdalene and Salome are headed to the tomb to anoint Jesus:

Here is the statement from Mark 16:7:
“But go and tell his disciples, especially Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

What I finally noticed in that verse is the phrase “especially Peter”. Of all the disciples, Peter had an extra weight on his shoulders for sure. He had denied Christ just before His death. Surely, Jesus knew of the impossible grief that was on Peter at that moment. And He wanted to make sure that of all of His followers that were suffering over his death, He gave a little extra attention to Peter to make sure that he, especially, could receive the news that saves us all. Jesus had real, loving concern for how Peter was feeling on a very personal level and I think it is important through scripture to understand the truly personal relationship that Christ wants with us.

Peace,
Monte