He Saw The Best In Me

Introduction:

God sees a lot of value in you; God sent His Son for you and not just for a select few. Although there may be those around you who will act as if they are more exclusive and special to Him than you are. In God’s eyes you are equally important

God sees glorious things in you, and He knows full well what you are capable of. In 1 Samuel 16: 7 it is written, “…For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” And so when God looks at you—He sees the best in you, He sees what others don’t or refuse to see in you. The great gospel singer Marvin Sapp sings a song of which I’ve taken the liberty to use as a title to our thought this morning, “He Saw the Best in me”.

The song says, “He saw the best in me, when everyone else around me, could only see the worst in me. He's mine and I'm his, it doesn't matter what I did. He only sees me for who I am.” In our text, we meet a woman who for sure was looked down upon by most of the people around her. She was a sinner, and as such she must have felt the pain of rejection prior to Jesus’ arrival. Many people live in bondage to feelings of rejection and don't even realize it. It causes us to believe lies about ourselves and project hurtful emotions on others. It also undermines our relationships with God.

I know from experience that rejection hurts and I really hate to admit my shallowness, but I resented being rejected too. I prayed about it, I thought maybe God would answer me quickly and I would know just what to do about it. But God’s answer would come in God’s time and not mine. However, I am reminded that Jesus Himself also experienced rejection in his hometown at a point where he wasn’t expecting it. As a result, He didn’t question who He was. He didn’t defend Himself. He didn’t deny the hurt that He experienced.

And He did experience some personal pain but He went right on to the next villages telling them of God’s love. There are several steps we usually go through before we realize that God views us differently than those around us. This woman approached Jesus in an open setting, a banquet, and it appears that eventhough people may have thought negatively about her, through Jesus she realized that she was loved and she learned how to not care about what they thought.

1. You Don’t Care What Others Think of You

I know that I will receive some disagreement, but allow me to explain. Yes, you should be concerned about your reputation but when people criticize you falsely. When they lie on you, and disrespect you, this shouldn’t be a something that dominates your mind. If you're one of those people who constantly worry what others think of you, I would like to help you reverse those unpleasant thoughts. No matter what it is that you obsess about —if it is trying to look good for complete strangers, listening to rumors, getting into a negative cycle there is a way out. The late Bishop G. E. Patterson once said, “I had to be delivered twice in my life, first I was delivered from sin and then I was delivered from people.’

When we are concerned about the negativity coming from other people we need to do several things to overcome this. We should first stop over-thinking, although this may sound a bit harsh but you are not the most important person in the world, at least not to everybody. Most of the time, when you think you are being judged, you probably aren't. It's just too hard to judge every single person you meet, analyzing their flaws and imperfections like they're a test you're trying to grade.

I know this because I was once obsessed about what others thought about me until I realized that it is only what God thinks of me that counts and if I try to live the life He expects me to live, what others think is really not that important to me anymore. We need to place all things into perspective; people who obsess about what others think tend to put ‘issues’ under the microscope and can't see the forest for the trees. People who don't obsess about what other people think tend to look at the big picture. You only get one chance at life; are you going to allow other people’s thoughts to make it less enjoyable? Are you going to let someone very offensive person occupy your mind?