You know those moments that your toes get stepped on? You hear or read something that makes you look at your own life and question some of your choices. Then you get your feelings hurt and think of all of the ways you can defend yourself.

But, sometimes, we need to be put in our place. And my toes recently got STOMPED on. I think my foot is broken now.

In a bible study that we’ve been doing at church recently, we’ve been looking deeply into the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy. Some of the words in 2 Timothy 3 jumped out at me. And it hurt a little.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 says this:

“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

So I read that and my first thought was that those people must be pretty horrible.

The more I looked, the more I noticed that some of these traits wiggle their way into my own life. “Lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful…”

So we read further on to see what the rest of verse 5 says.

“Have nothing to do with such people.”

Okay, that stings a little bit.

This year, very common themes have been loving ourselves more than anything and becoming powerful boss women.

We should love ourselves. So much. That’s why we are commanded to love our neighbor as our self. Jesus wasn’t intending that we hate ourselves and hate everyone and everything around us. We are called to love.

But this mantra of loving ourselves becomes a problem when that becomes the main focus of our life. When we spend so much of our time trying to make ourselves happier and more comfortable. When we spend more time thinking about ourselves than praising the Lord for how good He is.

We should work hard in everything we do. And the money we earn from working hard is such an awesome resource. It is how we can manage to feed our families. It is how we can give freely to others.  These are beautiful and important things.

But this love of money becomes a problem when we start putting our faith into it. It is not hard to fall into the trap of idolizing money. We label it as success. Then, we start trusting the number in the bank more than we trust the God who made us.

These are just a few of the many examples that I could show you from my life.

You might be reading this and thinking, “I’m so grateful that I don’t struggle with any of these.” Friend, I hope that is the case. I hope that you are learning every single day and no longer have ties to any of the traits that Paul mentioned.

But I know that someone will read this and start feeling so ashamed of themselves. So guilty because they have given in to all of these things that seemed so innocent. Me too, sister.

I want to remind you of something today.

2 Timothy 3:2-5

This is not a condemnation story.

This is a redemption story.

We have been given the Spirit of the Lord. We have been forgiven for every single mistake we have made in the past, the ones we are making right now, and the many that will come in the future.

The reminder of our shortcomings is not to tell us that we are hopeless and lost. It is to remind us that we have a good God. A God that loves us enough to save us. Even while we are struggling. Even while we feel broken and dirty and want to hide from His eyes.

Yes, we mess up. But what a blessing is it to feel the conviction of our sins? How awesome is it that the Spirit will let us know when we’ve done something wrong?That conviction is there to remind us that we are loved by a sweet Father and He wants what’s best for us. The best for us is loving and trusting Him. The best for us is obeying what He puts on our hearts and turning away from the mistakes that we have made.

Sometimes, it is easy to let the weight of our guilt hold us down and cause us to feel so empty. Sometimes we put up a shield and refuse to let that conviction change us. But, if we let go of pride and admit that we are imperfect humans and we make some questionable decisions sometimes, we can let God break down the walls we have put around our hearts. We can allow Him to keep shaping our hearts to align more with His.

Friend, if you get your toes stepped on, don’t let it make you bitter. Let it hurt for a minute. And then let the pain of your realization inspire change within you. There is so much hope for you and you are loved beyond any measurable amount.