What good are brass knuckles?
You know, those devices we slip around our fingers to give us an edge in a fight?
Oh, you’ve never used them? Not even the verbal sort?
Whiplash comments that can slice people at their knees … gossip … arguments over religious (or political) views.
“I’m right and you’re wrong. Get with the program, man!”
Or perhaps mocking someone. An insult meant to cut deep.
Verbal brass knuckles are just as damaging as the metal sort.
What about raising a fist to God and blaming him for our troubles … oops, we just went there, didn’t we?
Isaiah 45:9 says:
“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”
How might we have said it?
“God, why don’t I have her looks?”
“God, why did you give me an abusive parent?”
“God, it’s not fair that I’m not as smart as … funny as … rich as … creative as …”
When did God say, “I want to be fair, so from this point on, everyone is equal—” and poof! We all live equally. They tried that in East Germany, the Soviet Union, North Korea.
What we really want is to be the top of the pile, the lucky one, the overachiever that lives in the big house … you’re seeing it.
Isaiah 45:14 says our enemies shall say:
“Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.”
It’s not about fairness or our looks or how creative we are. It’s not about living at the top of the pile. If we’re blessed with that, excellent. If not, can people see God living in you?
Let’s toss out our brass knuckles and let the Lord shine in every part of who we are.
God is our standard, and he draws us upward toward him.
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