Interrupt the Chipping

Ashley stopped by to talk with me.

She was visibly upset, already crying before she said anything.

She blurted out, “Nobody will let me be a new person! They’re all think I’m still boy-crazy like I was in 8th grade…”

Ashley explained how she felt trapped by her past. She was convinced that everyone saw her only for who she used to be, and not for who she is now.

At the time, I was a new youth pastor. I wasn’t around when Ashley was in 8th grade.

I didn’t know what happened then. I only could see what was going on right now…

And I was surprised by what Ashley was saying.

I’d never heard anyone talking disparagingly about her or her past.

I would never have thought she had a bad reputation.

I didn’t think she was boy-crazy.

I sensed that whatever happened in the past had chipped away at her confidence, worth, and significance.

Because of that chipping away, she was now expecting it—looking out for it with a suspicious eye.

Innocent comments and conversations confirmed what she was already convinced of.

She “knew” that people saw her as dirty, didn’t like her, and wouldn’t accept her.

I knew what I had to do.

I had to interrupt the chipping.

I told Ashley a different story about herself.

I told her that people didn’t see her that way.

I told her that she was valuable, significant, of incredible worth.

I told Ashley that she was popular and funny—that people wanted to be her friend.

I told her that she belonged, fit, and was right where she needed to be.

I told Ashley it was time for her to see herself differently too.

It was time to interrupt the chipping.

Part of being a Christian is to interrupt the chipping…

Our job isn’t to chip away at the honor, worth, significance, and value of others.

Our job is to restore and build-up—to give value and honor.

We’re on the building team, not the demolition crew.

We’re value adders, not value diminishers.

We interrupt the chipping.

And we tell a new story.

“We have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5.16-19 NLT)