A friend of mine once made an interesting comment about how our lives are like a coin. We all have a heads side and a tails side. On one side of the coin, we have our past, our history, things we’ve done or things done to us. On the other, we have our future, the destiny God created us for.
We often give a great deal of attention to the way things were. We tend to define ourselves by our mistakes and failures, or the damage done to us. If we’re honest, we also tend to view others in the same way, looking at their track record, their mistakes and failures.
I believe there is validity in taking a look at the tails side of the coin – but it is not a place to dwell and it’s not a place to be used to label or punish someone. The look back should be with the intention to find those things in the past that are acting as a hindrance or roadblock to becoming all that God created us to be and allowing God to shine His light on them and bring healing. The goal is to have the baggage removed so that one’s destiny can become a reality.
What if we were to look at ourselves, our worship team members, our church family and friends through the lens of the heads side of the coin? What if we could see beyond the failures, poor choices and brokenness and into the destiny that God has for us? What if we saw people the way Jesus does? What if we called out the good in people and gave them a safe place to own their junk to the point of allowing God full access to heal and restore? What if we went mining for the gold that is in every one us who are created in the image of God?
Jesus is a wonderful example of viewing people through the heads side of the coin. It is His specialty. He is the master at speaking others into their destinies. The Disciples are proof of that, as is Zaccheaus and countless others.
My favorite example is how He called Peter the “Rock” on which He would build his church, fully knowing that Peter was anything but a “rock” in that moment. Jesus knew that in a very short time, this “rock” would cower in betrayal, not once, but three times. Jesus did not view Peter as he was, He saw Peter for who he would be. (Matthew 16:18)
No life is a write off. No life is a waste. No life has to be trapped in the way things were. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to see past the past and flip the coin, begin to speak life into the broken places, find the gold and call if forth into reality.
What if we chain those around us to their future? What if we flip the coin and call ‘heads?’
