Verses: Esther 7 :
1 - 4
My thoughts about the verses:
Esther has a second party. Haman and the King are present. They are enjoying themselves. Xerxes asks Esther again what she would want. He is so pleased what she has done for him.
He will give her anything even half of the Kingdom.
Esther knows that it is now or never. So she leans over to him and asks the King to spare her life. Not only spare her life but spare her family. You can almost see the shock in Xerxes face. How could someone even dare to kill his beloved Queen. She had been good to him. Respected him treated him with dignity. She had been all the things that he wanted.
What we want to notice is that admission went much further than just saving her life. She was outing herself as being Jewish. This meant that the King had picked a Queen that was part of the conquered people. He was in a state of confusion. He could not let his Queen die. He could not let her people die. He figured out he had been tricked into killing his own beloved.
Her coming out to him was at the right time and the right place. This is something that we can all understand. We all are forced out of different types of closets throughout our life. Sometimes it is to let people know that you love God. Other times it might be because you love someone that your family and friends do not agree with. No matter what closet you have to come out of you must realize that doing it at the right time and right place is very necessary. You have to understand the consequences of coming out of the closet. When you are ready to come out make sure that when you do you are ready for both good and bad events.
I can remember coming out in a way that made my life more complete. I was in my early twenties and my mom was a school crossing guard for a school that had a rather large amount of kids that came from an underprivileged apartment complex. She started inviting the kids to church. I had gone to school to be a teacher and I was teaching one kid in a Sunday school class. Then all of a sudden we had two then ten. There were many times those there were over twenty kids making that trip to the church. For some that was the most special thing that they got to do during the week.
I learned a lot from those kids. I learned that you can have people look up to you and you can be something special in someone’s life even when you are struggling. I know that the kids needed me and I needed them just as much. If it were not for that short period of time in my life I would not be the person I am today. I realized that God can turn small things into big things. If you allow God to work through you there is nothing that can keep you down. I eventually had to step down and the kids loss their group.
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how I could have stayed there and how my life would be. Yet, I know God had bigger plans in store of me. If I had stayed there this blog wouldn't have happened and I would still be feeling sad deep down. No one ever knew how hard it was to be who I was and still be in the closet. That day changed my life forever. I became just as happy as the kids because I could be who I was. I finally learned how to love myself. To accept who Christ wanted me to be and to understand that I could be two things at once.
I believe I actually had two salvation events in my life. The first happened when I was a young child and accepted Christ in my life. The second is when I came out of the closet as a Christian who happened to be Gay. I was free to be me and I know that what I learned from the kids is that having someone that loves you for who you are is most important. I came out at the right time and did have both good and bad things happen. Yet, looking back it was one of the best things that ever happened.
Prayer:
Dear God we thank you for protecting us in our hard times. We praise you for rejoicing in our good times. We ask that you be with us as through our struggles in life. Help us be brave enough to walk out of closets that are holding us back from your work. Let us learn to love the person that you have created us to be. In the name of the Most High we pray. Amen
Questions:
My thoughts about the verses:
Esther has a second party. Haman and the King are present. They are enjoying themselves. Xerxes asks Esther again what she would want. He is so pleased what she has done for him.
He will give her anything even half of the Kingdom.
Esther knows that it is now or never. So she leans over to him and asks the King to spare her life. Not only spare her life but spare her family. You can almost see the shock in Xerxes face. How could someone even dare to kill his beloved Queen. She had been good to him. Respected him treated him with dignity. She had been all the things that he wanted.
What we want to notice is that admission went much further than just saving her life. She was outing herself as being Jewish. This meant that the King had picked a Queen that was part of the conquered people. He was in a state of confusion. He could not let his Queen die. He could not let her people die. He figured out he had been tricked into killing his own beloved.
Her coming out to him was at the right time and the right place. This is something that we can all understand. We all are forced out of different types of closets throughout our life. Sometimes it is to let people know that you love God. Other times it might be because you love someone that your family and friends do not agree with. No matter what closet you have to come out of you must realize that doing it at the right time and right place is very necessary. You have to understand the consequences of coming out of the closet. When you are ready to come out make sure that when you do you are ready for both good and bad events.
I can remember coming out in a way that made my life more complete. I was in my early twenties and my mom was a school crossing guard for a school that had a rather large amount of kids that came from an underprivileged apartment complex. She started inviting the kids to church. I had gone to school to be a teacher and I was teaching one kid in a Sunday school class. Then all of a sudden we had two then ten. There were many times those there were over twenty kids making that trip to the church. For some that was the most special thing that they got to do during the week.
I learned a lot from those kids. I learned that you can have people look up to you and you can be something special in someone’s life even when you are struggling. I know that the kids needed me and I needed them just as much. If it were not for that short period of time in my life I would not be the person I am today. I realized that God can turn small things into big things. If you allow God to work through you there is nothing that can keep you down. I eventually had to step down and the kids loss their group.
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how I could have stayed there and how my life would be. Yet, I know God had bigger plans in store of me. If I had stayed there this blog wouldn't have happened and I would still be feeling sad deep down. No one ever knew how hard it was to be who I was and still be in the closet. That day changed my life forever. I became just as happy as the kids because I could be who I was. I finally learned how to love myself. To accept who Christ wanted me to be and to understand that I could be two things at once.
I believe I actually had two salvation events in my life. The first happened when I was a young child and accepted Christ in my life. The second is when I came out of the closet as a Christian who happened to be Gay. I was free to be me and I know that what I learned from the kids is that having someone that loves you for who you are is most important. I came out at the right time and did have both good and bad things happen. Yet, looking back it was one of the best things that ever happened.
Prayer:
Dear God we thank you for protecting us in our hard times. We praise you for rejoicing in our good times. We ask that you be with us as through our struggles in life. Help us be brave enough to walk out of closets that are holding us back from your work. Let us learn to love the person that you have created us to be. In the name of the Most High we pray. Amen
Questions:
Are you hiding in a closet that is keeping you from doing God's work? Are you afraid of sharing your story? Are you ready to share with others who you are? Is this the right time and place to come out of the closet that is holding you back?
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