A decade ago I was at the lowest point in my life. I was in my mid-fifties, and I was just bone-tired. Life had not worked out as I had envisioned. My wife had just battled through breast cancer. Her illness taught the hard lesson that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. It’s pretty scary learning those you love; and yourself, for that matter, do not come with a safety net.
I had hit a career plateau that all us fifty-something’s know all too well. I had not built up vast piles of cash in a vault somewhere, and retirement didn’t appear to be something I was ever going to know about. The sinking reality that money; loaned out to our kids to get themselves out of a few pickles, wasn’t going to be paid back anytime soon.
So I found myself in my basement bunker in the fetal position, rocking back and forth and mumbling to myself. For months on end, I was throwing my own pity-party…until one Sunday morning when I stumbled upon Joel Osteen’s Sunday sermon television broadcast from Houston, Texas. I was just about to change the channel when something caused me to hesitate a second.
My life changed with that hesitation from switching the station.
God had given me a way out of the helplessness…he had given me a television minister! To those who have never seen or heard Joel Osteen…it is hard to imagine what I am talking about. From that Sunday so long ago, I have not missed watching Joel Osteen since. I have read every one of his books. My wife tolerates me watching him, my kids make fun of me for watching a TV preacher, but you know something…I don’t care! For me, for my situation…what he is saying…I need to hear.
He doesn’t preach about God being someone we need to fear. He doesn’t preach that God is vengeful. Instead, he talks about God loving us all unconditionally…that He wants us all to be the best we can be. Osteen speaks a message that, though God, we can overcome our past mistakes and tomorrow can be brighter than today…that what happened yesterday is not a precursor to today, or tomorrow. What is interesting is that you don’t even have to believe in God in order to gain from listening to him. Joel Osteen is every bit a life coach as Tony Robbins.
Each week day, I get a blanket email sent out from Joel Osteen. It has a couple lines of Scripture, and then a few paragraphs from Joel reflecting on the Biblical quote. Many times, when I have a friend going something, if the message of the day is relevant to that person…they will soon be getting that message in their email. I love to begin each day reflecting on these daily devotionals. They help to get me pointed in the right direction.
Our world is not an easy place to exist in right now…but in more careful consideration, when has it ever been an easy place to exist in? The older you get, the more battle scars you have marking your body…and your soul. Many times it is those scars on our soul which are the greatest threat to our existence. We need to constantly be reminded that, regardless of what the world might think, we are priceless in God’s eyes. Here is a little bit from Joel’s daily devotional…
The following message really spoke to me.
A few years ago, I was having dinner with some people in their home. I noticed some paintings on the wall. To me, they weren’t very impressive. In fact, some of them looked like they had been painted by a child. They were abstract and modern, and it appeared like paint had been just thrown here and there. But later that evening, the owner mentioned how he had paid over a million dollars for just one of those paintings. I looked at it again and thought, “Wow! That is beautiful, isn’t it?”
I found out it was an original, painted by the famous artist Pablo Picasso. What dawned on me that night was not so much what the painting looked like, but rather who the artist was. A painting gets its value from its creator.
In the same way, your value doesn’t come from what you look like, what you do or who you know. You are a masterpiece! Your value comes from the fact that Almighty God created you. You are priceless!
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