Thursday, January 22, 2015

Don't Take It Personal (Inspired by Hugh Greenwood)

Most of us have the impression that we need to impress people and be well-liked by the world. Well if we strive to be a "people pleaser", we will take offense or take comments personal, causing us to react in a negative way. The world changes daily, and the world's standards will consistently change, so we will never please people of this world.

However, there is one standard that has not and will never change, and that is God's standard. We are not made to please people of this world, we are to please God. With pleasing God, we will please people around us. God gave us His Word, gave us The Bible, so we can have an answer for EVERYTHING. We all have problems, and we all have that friend we turn to because we trust them. Realize that people's intentions can be altered, based on their feelings for us or giving us advice for what is best for them. Also realize that God's intention, is to love us, He will never give us advice that will destroy us. Will His advice hurt? Will we suffer pain? Most likely, but it is to help us grow. It is sinful to stay stagnant because we are not using God's given gifts and talents. We must grow, but with growing, we will have growing pains. When we pray to God to grow us in different aspects of our lives, realize that we are praying for pain. When you suffer pain, God is answering our prayers!

In this world, we are going to get personally attacked by enemies, friends, and even family members. And the people that try to personally attack us, do not have any positive intentions for us. Most of the time, they want to make themselves feel better, when in reality our intentions should be to make others feel better. This is my mindset, if someone attacks me personally, I ignore it. But if someone is telling me I am doing something wrong, according to God's standard, I am all ears. I will forever be willing to learn. So understand the difference, do not get in arguments or debates with people that talk nonsense. Those people are not worth our time, they just want attention and to feel superior over us and over God.

If we do not have compassion, we will win no argument. We need to help people, instead of wishing evil upon people, let's hope and pray that those people get right with God. We do not want our worst enemies to go to hell. Let's lead people in the right direction with our actions and words. We never know who is watching and who is inspired by what we do. In The Bible, Genesis 12:3, God says that He will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So if we bless others, God will bless us. There will be greater joy from God when we bless those that curse us. If we curse those who curse us, it goes back in full circle because we become a curser, therefore God will curse us and there will be no satisfaction or growth.

With personal attacks, there are going to be people that cross the line. I do not mind when people attack me personally, but when they attack people I care about, it bothers me. In my growth, I have realized that I need to find ways to react in a positive manner. Yesterday, Hugh Greenwood of the UNM Lobos Mens' Basketball Team, showed us a great example of just that.

There was ONE fan that was making terrible jokes about his mum about her issues with breast cancer. Hugh did not give him the time or acknowledgement to mention him. Because the intention of this fan, was to get attention, whether if it is negative or positive. Hugh also mentioned that this fan's comments, motivated him to beat UNLV at Las Vegas(UNM 71 UNLV 69). He told members of his family, "I love you guys so much. No one messes with my family." Hugh could have easily got in an argument with this fan and no one would blame him. He understood that it would have distracted the task at hand, which was to beat UNLV. Hugh put on a great performance and showed his winning experience. Instead of reacting right away, he took time to compose himself to find a way to turn it into a positive, and sure enough he did.

I am sure God had a huge smile on His face when Hugh reacted the way he did. Not only did he put this fan to shame, but we are to be encouraged to not curse this fan, we are encouraged to hope and pray for him not to get cancer and get right with God. Have this fan understand that he does not need to crave attention at the expense of bad character. We are all called to do great things with the unique gifts God has given each and every one of us. Let us encourage good people and bad people, to use the gifts God has given them and have Jesus be at the center of their lives. The more god-like we are, the more God will bless us and the earth.

If we are right with God, that does not mean we are going to please everybody. Do not get caught up in that concept. Learn to please God and the right people will come in our lives and the wrong will leave it. I understand that people are going to hate me, I am very open about my faith because I believe it is important and I take it seriously. With that, people of this world will attack me personally, they will hate me, and I realize that...the world hates Jesus too...In John 15:18-19 Jesus says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Do not follow the world's ways, follow and obey God's ways, for He is the judge of our eternal life, not people...Everything I know, and everything I have experienced, is from God. This is not my own wisdom, this is what God has taught me. He gives us experiences, talents, and a Bible; that He wants us to use collectively. 

P.S. If you like to help raise money for the Hugh Greenwood Pink Pack, a fundraising organization to raise money for cancer research, follow this page on Twitter @HGPinkPack and in the bio, you will find a link that gives you the opportunity to donate to this great cause!

P.S.S. I do not want any false accusations against the ENTIRE UNLV fan base, this was just one fan. The UNLV Rebellion sincerely apologized on behalf of this fan and encouraged Hugh and the organization to help fight cancer.

Thanks for Reading,
Christopher Edward Perez

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