Being called out is never fun. I was extremely timid in
middle school. I rarely brushed my hair, had braces and thick wire framed
glasses. I was not much to look at. Once class started I shut up and kept my head
down. I had a teacher in middle school for enriched 7th grade math,
she hated me.
This teacher would make me feel awful on a weekly basis, it
must have been part of her curriculum. One day we were working on math that I
didn’t understand. All of a sudden, she calls my name, “JOE!” (She never called
me Joel). I look up disappointed and startled. she says, “What’s the answer to
question 4 JOE!” I replied, “I am not sure, I couldn’t figure it out.” She lays
into me, C’MON JOE! YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND THIS STUFF SOMETIME IF YOU WANT TO
MOVE ON IN LIFE!” She then calls on my friend David, she loved David. DAVID!
HELP JOE OUT!” My friend sitting next to me stated he couldn’t figure it out
either, but she loved David. “Oh really? It’s alright David let’s go over
problem 4 as a group.” WHAT!!!!! David sitting right next to me under his
breathe laughs and said, “If you didn’t know the teacher hated you before, you
do now!” 7th grade math was tough for me. Being called out is not
fun but sometimes can be necessary as we see from Paul.
Paul in Galatians 3:1-2 (MSG) lays into the people…
“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you
taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that
you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His
sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
Paul calls out this group of people, they stopped caring
about Jesus and tried to go back and focus more on the Law. This was the old
way of thinking and not caring about Jesus. Paul basically calls them crazy and
possessed. Clearly they weren’t thinking straight. Christ redeemed us so we
don’t have to focus on the sacrifices, burnt offerings and the old way. Christ
brought a new hope. Yet people were still wrapped into their traditions and how
they used to do faith. They couldn’t grasp the grace of Jesus and were happy
with the old way they felt comfortable with. The old way didn’t bring people to
faith. It separated those who came from a religious background and those with
no faith background. Paul called them out on it and it was greatly justified.
Being called out leaves us with a couple of different
reactions. Just today a player talked about how the team they played yesterday
wasn’t that good and was overrated. The problem with this player, they just
lost to this “overrated” team 24-3. Hopefully he realizes what he said today.
When someone calls you out, how do you respond? Whether in faith (Bad
theology), health (eating better) or in your opinion in a hot topic button, do
you listen and internalize or just right them off? Sometimes being called out
isn’t a bad thing.
You can be broken and not know it. Being called out can cause the greatest change
in our life. We have to be humble enough to realize we are not perfect and have
issues. I ran into a person that played a key role in me coming to faith, it
was a couple of years since I have seen him. I asked how he was and where was
his wife? He responded good and we are divorced now, it just wasn’t fun so we
moved on. Wow! It wasn’t fun and within two years this faithful follower of Christ
was done with his marriage. It was crushing. I used to work with an awesome guy
and those who knew him knew he had a drinking problem (It cost him his job
where I worked under him). I ran into him and asked how he was and the family? He
said, oh man, I needed to get divorced, to many issues with that girl. It was
crushing. His wife was amazing and this means he turned his back on his wife
and 3 year old daughter.
Paul called out people that needed to be called out on. What
do you need to be called out on? I had some blood work done and was told I
needed to starting eating better or I could suffer for it. Sometimes we all
need the awake up that Paul gave. What do you need to be told about? What needs
to change in your life? You can change without being called out on. Make the
change to make you better.
Have a great day.
