April 23, 2021 (Friday)
This is the sixth of nine blogs on “Personal Problems in Life: Feelings of Anxiety, Loneliness, Depression, Anger, Guilt, Inferiority, Grief, Hostility, and Feelings Associated with Sickness.”
I am allergic to cats, especially the long-haired variety. But I love to observe them, because they are such interesting critters. Seems we always have had them at our house, but they are “outside” cats for the most part. We now have five. Actually they are Dwight’s cats and he has full responsibility for them because of my allergies. Each one is different from the others. Each has its own personality.
People, too, are born with characteristics of personality that were handed down in the form of genes. They are also influenced by the kind of personal world in which they grew up. One of the sad results of all this is the fact that some people develop feelings of inferiority that interfere with their daily lives and their interactions with others.
But I don’t believe people are born feeling inferior. This is something they learn along the way by the way they are treated as they grow up. Some people reach adulthood without ever having had the support of anyone. So it would be quite natural for a person without any sort of affirmation to have feelings of worthlessness and inferiority.
The Christian community is becoming aware that there are many people sitting in the pews plagued by such feelings. So the gospel tracts that major on sin, judgment and eternal punishment have been replaced by those that approach from a different point of view the need to accept Christ as Savior . The better gospel tracts take a positive approach. They may begin with something like, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Yes, our sin has separated us from God, but God has not given up on us. He loves us so much that He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. Jesus willingly died in our place on the cross. He rose from the dead and continues through His Spirit to help us daily. We are loved, because God considers us worthy of such love. Who are we to contradict God?
If we feel unworthy of God’s grace and blessings, let us remember that it is His choice to save us and bless us. We should shake off feelings of inferiority and realize that we are special. You are unique. Even identical twins are different in subtle ways. There is no one in the world quite like you, and God likes it that way. He made you and He loves you. How you feel about yourself is up to you. Give yourself a good reputation and work to live up to it. Try, and if you fail, God loves you just the same. I like the song that says, “Take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”
PICK YOURSELF UP
Songwriters: Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern
1936
Pick yourself up,
Take a deep breath,
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.
Nothing’s impossible, I have found
For when my chin is on the ground.
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off
And start all over again.
Don’t lose your confidence
If you slip
Be grateful for a pleasant trip
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.
Work like a soul inspired
Until the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you’ll be a man, my son.
Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again
They picked themselves up
Dust themselves off
And start’d all over again.
Work like a soul inspired
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you’ll be a man, my son.
Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again?
So take a deep breath
Pick yourself up
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.
