We all have those times when we are misunderstood or something we did or said was misinterpreted. At least we say we were misunderstood. But maybe we really meant that action or that particular word but find ourselves having to come back and do damage control or worse, image adjustment. The simple fact is that this worldly flesh prompts us to want to make ourselves look good in the eyes of others.
I am at time my own worst image consultant. I am at times addicted to others' approval. I don't really want to, but I find myself time after time trying to explain things in a way that put me in the best light of others. It's a deep flaw and it is a deep addiction.
David, before he was King, could have fallen prey to this malady. He was a very winsome person to both men who would follow him and ladies who would more than once glance his way. He had a natural way in which people just fell in love with him. And yet early on, and throughout much of his latter years, he was the recipient of some of the most unjust accusations and character assassinations than any one person ought to have to bear.
His response? He constantly went to God. He refused to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed. He bore the loss of most every convenience and every right he had and responded mostly in silence, allowing God to be his justifier before others. Radical.
Richard Foster says, "The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image...If we are silent, who will take control?..."
Today, I determine to live my life without having to excuse or justify myself to others. I pledge to let God be my justifier. I choose to let my "self" image be immersed in a "God" image and let Him be my identity to a world so in need of Him.
I vow today not to have to use the phrase, "But, let me explain myself..."
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