i don’t have a monopoly on words.

i realize that i’m not the only writer in the world.

there was a time when that immobilized me. i quit writing because i felt like my words couldn’t hold their own in a world where people can so freely express themselves.

but that wasn’t the right reason. i write not because i want you to think i’m the best writer in the world. (okay, maybe a little bit.) but the main reason i write is because it’s part of who i am. it’s how i’m wired.

i am a writer.

and as a writer, i not only like to write words, i also like to read them. sure most of the time, i prefer to read those words uttered from a superhero in a comic book, but i also enjoy the words of a handful of authors and blog writers.

one of those is author and blogger jon acuff. acuff writes humorously in a way that i hope to emulate, but i’m not even close to there—yet. but despite that enviable skill, my favorite posts are when jon takes his sharp wit and points it inward.

a couple of years ago, his blog post had a simple title, “thinking you’re naked.” it refers to a question God asked Adam and Eve in the garden after they ate from a forbidden tree. in Genesis 3:11, God asked, “Who told you that you were naked?” (NLT).

i’ve always heard those words with a condescending tone. sort of like when i tell my kids, “who thought it was a good idea to leave a half-eaten pop tart on the couch?”

but after reading jon’s blog post, i heard it differently. there was more compassion. even empathy in the question.

almost as if someone called one of my kids a cruel name.
“who told you that you were stupid?”
“who told you that you couldn’t play?”
“who told you that you weren’t good enough?”

i can’t hear that question the same anymore.
it makes my heart ache.

because when i hear it, i hear a God who already knew how evil and distorted things could potentially be, and never wanted His creation to experience it.

i hear that question from my vantage point as a dad, and it breaks my heart. i don’t want my kids’ view of themselves to become so distorted. i don’t want them to struggle with seeing themselves the way God sees them.

i don’t want them to ever think they are less than who God made them to be.

and i think God feels the same about me.

He asks the same question of me, because He knows i’m affected by a world distorted by sin. He asks the question because He knows i’m a man distorted by his own sin.

He says to you and to me:
“who told you that you were less of a guy because you can’t throw a baseball?”
“who told you that you weren’t a writer?”
“who told you that you were ugly just because you’re not like a magazine cover?”
“who told you that you had to have washboard abs?”
“who told you that you had to be a size 2 to be a woman?”
“who told you that your best days are behind you and you had nothing else to contribute?”
“who told you that you aren’t a good husband?”
“who told you that you weren’t a good dad?”
“who told you that you’re not a good provider?”

the list could go on and on.

but it comes from a God who isn’t angry at me. He’s angry that i am so deceived, that i don’t see the truth anymore.

so how would you fill in this blank: “who told you you were ____________ ?”

and what would God say about it.

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image courtesy of flickr.com/creative commons/by SuperFantastic