Bad Treatment Does Not Define You

Not taking things so personally can be done when we learn to be secure in who we are. 

 

When we realize our own value and worth, we will not allow others to degrade us. Sure, they might treat us bad, but we can choose to not allow their ill treatment of us to impact what we know about who we truly are.

 

 

I listened to a talk on YouTube a couple of weeks back and an illustration was made that has stuck well with me.

 

The speaker took out a bill. I do not recall how much the bill was, but it was a nice amount. Then he asked the audience if they would like to have the bill. They of course responded as we would expect them to with a resounding yes.

 

Then he did something that I would not advise anyone to do for sanitary reasons.

 

He crumpled up the bill and put it in his mouth. Next, he spat it out onto the stage where he was speaking from.

 

He then picked it up and asked the audience the same question. 

 

And the audience still agreed with the speaker that the bill had value. The same value it was worth prior to him treating it as he did.

 

He then made his point that we are like that bill. We also get treated bad much like the bill that was wadded up, chewed on and spat out.

 

However, even though we sometimes take the ill treatment from others as a sure sign that we must be a sort of person that deserves that treatment, the speaker reminded the audience that we are still highly valuable. 

 

The brain will get us to believe the lie that how we are treated defines who we are.

 

We need to correct this thinking. We need to know who we are, our value and our importance. We need to stop allowing how others treat us to define us. 

 

We need to recognize that just like a bill that was trashed and stepped on and still retains its’ value, we, too, retain ours. 

 

The next time someone mistreats you for any reason, remember that they do not have the privilege to shape your identity and sense of worth. 

 

The individual doing the mistreatment often times has the problem, not us. They need to change, we do not.

 

We have a responsibility to respond in a righteous way, however. We must forgive and show grace and mercy to those that do us harm. This if for our own good and keeps us free from bitterness and unforgiveness.