Define Yourself By What You Are For

I remember having a conversation one day with a friend about country music.

“I do NOT like country music,” she said emphatically. She was getting pretty worked up about it. I didn’t have a strong feeling either way about country music, but I listened patiently to her reasons.

Defining Ourselves: What We are Against

I started to become aware of how often we define ourselves by what we are AGAINST.

“I hate the Green Bay Packers!”

“Ugh… I can’t stand reality television!”

Sometimes it is silly things like sports, music, and television, but the practice of defining ourselves by what we are against applies to more serious matters as well. In our society, people often define themselves by being against certain individuals or groups, such as African-Americans, Muslims, gays/lesbians, conservatives, liberals, immigrants, and so on.

Defining Ourselves: What We are For

My encouragement for you today is to define yourself by what you are FOR. If you catch yourself creating your identity based on what you are AGAINST, hit the pause button and reevaluate. Is the individual or group you are against so bad that you need to build your life around fighting it? Could you give them grace and let them be?

You might find that you will accomplish more and be happier by redirecting your energy toward what you are for.

Discussion

Do you define yourself more by what you are against, or what you are for? What is one step you could take toward redirecting your energy toward what you are for?