It's NOT All About Me!

 I love all of the plot twists and turns in the story of Esther.  It's a book filled with "I didn't see that coming" moments.  From a queen who won't cooperate with a vile request and gets deposed, to snatching up all of the beautiful virgins for the king, to him picking the least likely, to a villain in chief, Haman who hates Jews and plots their demise to a queen risking her life for her people...the story just keeps moving in a serpentine, "good news, bad news" type of way.

Picking up the thoughts from my last blog post (That ONE Thing I Can't Let Go), let's dive back into the next twist.  Haman has a 75 foot pole erected to impale Mordecai because Mordecai refuses to bow to him.  He just can't let it go.  Though he is second in command of all of Persia, this one measly guy won't bow!  So his wife, Zeresh, tells him to erect a 75-foot pole, ask the king for permission to impale Mordecai, and then go on his merry way.  He orders workmen  to work through the night to be ready in the morning to off Mordecai so that he can then be happy and free to enjoy dining with the king and queen exclusively.  But...Plot Twist...

That very same night while the workmen are setting up the sharpened 75-foot pole, the king can't sleep. So he has the Persian equivalent of counting sheep brought in.  "Read the royal records to me," he commands.  Somewhere in the reading was buried the story of Bigthana and Teresh, two would-be assassins that Mordecai had overheard talking to each other about killing the king.  He had reported them, and after examination, his report was found to be true.  They were dispensed of.  End of story.  Next Story.

"Wait..." says the king..."what was done to repay Mordecai for his loyalty and kindness?" A question he sits with all night, because he gets the report back that nothing had been recorded.

New day.  Haman comes early to the king's chambers to make his request and the stage is set as they play a small game of "no, you first".  And here is where it gets good.  Let's pick up the story in Esther ch 6.

Esth. 6:3 “What reward or recognition did we ever give Mordecai for this?” the king asked.
His attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”

Esth. 6:4 “Who is that in the outer court?” the king inquired. As it happened, Haman had just arrived in the outer court of the palace to ask the king to impale Mordecai on the pole he had prepared.

Esth. 6:5 So the attendants replied to the king, “Haman is out in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered.

6 So Haman came in, and the king said, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?”

Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?”

Which is where I want to pause us in this story.  Pastor Tripp Prince wrote, in response to this verse:

"One of the greatest and most persistent challenges that any of us ever face is that of self-love.  What I mean is this: We live as if we were the sun around which all of life orbits.  Our lives, careers, passions, hobbies, interests, activities, all of them fueling the obsession that is 'self'. And when we give into this delusion, we are unable to see the world as it truly is.  We fail to see the joys and sorrows, wants and needs of others, because we are entirely blinded by the one-man act called, 'my life'." Dwell Daily Devotional, Sept 8, 2025

And Haman reminds us of that proclivity within all of us.  Oh...we might try to distance ourselves from the vile Haman, but we each have within us the capacity to ask "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?" We might not say it out loud, yet it resonates deep within us.  Our lives, lived out, are inherently selfish.  Don't believe me?  

Who are you thinking about when someone gets in front of you in the 15 items or less lane with 23 items in their shopping cart?  Who are you thinking about when you are stuck in the far left lane behind a person going 10 miles less than the speed limit?  What about when boarding a plane?  You might abide by their boarding procedures to remain civil, but inwardly you are hoping that there will still be overhead bin space for your carry on and that the person next to you doesn't want to talk and spoil your plans for me-time.

So what do we do if we find ourselves in league with Haman?  Again from Tripp Prince: 

"The first step to genuine transformation is to admit that you and I are capable of this kind of self-delusion.  To say otherwise is to deny the truth of the human condition, saying we are well, when, in truth, we are sick and in need of healing.  Left to ourselves, you and I are no different than Haman.  Yet thanks be to God, by His love and power to work within us, His Spirit is setting us free from self-love, slowly but surely revealing to us the power of loving our neighbors and even our enemies as we love ourselves, that we may know the joy of being children of our Father in heaven."  Dwell Daily Devotional, Sept 8, 2025

We must learn and acknowledge, on a daily basis, that we are not the center of the universe...and that's a good thing.  When I allow God to be God and remove myself from my paltry throne, I begin to grow in love towards others and seek their good.

A person who never learns that, while perhaps, like Haman, could even possess almost unlimited riches and power, will always be bereft of those things which truly enrich us as human beings.

God, deliver me...from me.

Allowing God's Love Song to Dissolve Your Past

Haunted by your past?  Can't seem to shake it?  You aren't alone, you know.  It's  happened before.

Go to the well of Samaria in John 4 and see the search of a woman trying to escape her past and hear the Song of God's Love in response to her life. Religion has told the Samaritan woman about the possibility of a Messiah, and then she meets the real Messiah, who immediately recognizes her thirst and offers her the living water of His grace.

What this woman expects from the Messiah is a lengthy critique of her life, or an enlightening lecture on what she should do or a justifiable reminder of the consequences of her destructive choices on others. What she receives instead is compassion, gentleness, kindness and a way out of the ruins of her life. She hears God’s love song for her. Jesus goes straight for her longings, finds them and, in the process finds her. And in so doing, His love song liberates her from her past.

After her conversation with Jesus, the woman at the well is just beginning a whole new way of living, but none of the facts of her life have changed! She is still living with a man who is not her husband. She still has been divorced 5 times. Her reputation is still a disaster. Jesus often told people not to tell anyone what He had done for them, but not this woman.

Her faith is only a few minutes old and already she becomes an evangelist with a huge impact on her community. What does she say? Not much. “Uh….come see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done.” Everyone in town knows what this woman has done. Big deal. What she says is not the point. The fact that she can talk about her shameful past publicly is what grabs their attention.

Her words are few and seemingly insignificant, but her saying them is very significant. In effect she says, “I know you know who I am, but I just met a person who liberated me from my past, my reputation, and I am no longer the person you think I am. I am no longer hostage to my bad choices. I am free!”

Still, nothing has changed. But everything has changed. Her neighbors can hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes. Her words are all they need to race to the man she describes. For reasons they don’t understand, who this woman is now seems more relevant than who she was then.

The implications for us are almost overwhelming. Those of us who want to move on from our past, those who have come to the end of the road, can start with our unchanged life, now. We don’t have to wait until we are “mature.” We don’t have to move to a new town or convince others we are serious; we simply start. We begin. We hear God’s Love Song and respond. We take the first bumbling, stumbling, teetering steps toward the spiritual life, even if we are not very good at it.

What a gift of God.  To leave the past in the past.  And as we continue to tune into the Song of Love and allow it to permeate our guilt-ridden hearts, our very lives begin to change and a daily new beginning will allow that past to melt into the story of our lives, where it has meaning and significance but no power to harm us anymore.  It simply is the setting to show off still another example of God's Amazing Grace.

The Overflow of the Heart

A friend will treat you with respect. 

M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum , tells an interesting story that illustrates this point.

There was once an old monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Centuries earlier, it had been a thriving center where many dedicated monks lived and worked and had great influence on the realm. But now only five monks lived there, and they were all over seventy years old. This was clearly a dying order.

A few miles from the monastery lived an old hermit who many thought was a prophet. One day as the monks agonized over the impending demise of their order, they decided to visit the hermit to see if he might have some advice for them. Perhaps he would be able to see the future and show them what they could do to save the monastery.

The hermit welcomed the five monks to his hut, but when they explained the purpose of their visit, the hermit could only commiserate with them. “Yes, I understand how it is,” said the hermit. “The spirit has gone out of the people. Hardly anyone cares much for the old things anymore.”

“Is there anything you can tell us,” the abbot inquired of the hermit, “that would help us save the monastery?”

“No, I’m sorry,” said the hermit. “I don’t know how your monastery can be saved. The only thing that I can tell you is that one of you is an apostle of God.”

The monks were both disappointed and confused by the hermit’s cryptic statement. They returned to the monastery, wondering what the hermit could have meant by the statement, “One of you is an apostle of God.” For months after their visit, the monks pondered the significance of the hermit’s words.

“One of us is an apostle of God,” they mused. “Did he actually mean one of us monks here at the monastery? That’s impossible. We are all too old. We are too insignificant. On the other hand, what if it’s true? And if it is true, then which one of us is it?”

One monks’s contemplation was similar to the four others’: “Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant the abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man—a man of wisdom and light. He couldn’t have meant Brother Elred. Elred gets crotchety at times and is difficult to reason with. On the other hand, he is almost always right. Maybe the hermit did mean Brother Elred. But surely he could not have meant Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, so shy—a real nobody. Still, he’s always there when you need him. He’s loyal and trustworthy. Yes, he could have meant Phillip. Of course, the hermit didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just an ordinary person. Yet, suppose he did? Suppose I am an apostle of God? Oh God, not me. I couldn’t be that much for you. Or could I?”

As they continued to mull the hermit’s words, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one of them might actually be an apostle of God. And on the off-off chance that he himself might be the apostle spoken of by the hermit, each monk began to treat himself with extraordinary respect.

Because the monastery was situated in a beautiful forest, many people came there to picnic on its tiny lawn and to walk on its paths, and even now and then to go into the tiny chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out of them, permeating the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, people began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

As more and more visitors came, some of the younger men started to talk with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. And another. Within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the hermit’s gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality throughout the realm.

Sometimes, just like the old monks, we ask, “How can we train kids to become people of character? Or perhaps you’re just asking,  "How can we get some new life in our marriage and grow, both emotionally and spiritually?” Perhaps the answer has to do with how we regard each other. How do we treat each other? Are we always putting each other down and creating an atmosphere of criticism and negativism? Or are we treating each other with extraordinary dignity and respect?

Jesus said in Matt. 12:33-35     “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 

What is your mouth telling others about what is in your heart?