Many of us come from backgrounds that have episodes, even chronic, in which we were the target of unearned disapproval. We simply weren't someone's enough.
That disapproval gets baked in--into our development, our responses, our filter of life. Often our future relationships get poured into that ready-made crust of disapproval, and we find that every slice of life has a portion of that crust as its flavor.
Let's make pudding instead.
Pies generally have two parts, the crust and the filling. So considering this filling--our future relationships--can be termed pudding, let's find a way to isolate and discard that crust of disapproval for good.
In Matthew 11 and Luke 7, Jesus is sternly pointing out that "opinion polls don't count for much" since people called Him "a lush, a friend of the riffraff" when He came feasting. If we didn't (and still don't) get it right in sizing up the identity of Jesus, who is to say that someone long ago got it right about you and me when that person or persons tried to bake disapproval into our souls?
Jesus goes on to say "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." Does He disapprove of you? I promise you the answer is a resounding no.
The only way to remove the crust is to pour Jesus' unconditional approval of you into your pie pan. His approval completely obliterates--over time--that former baked-in crust.
If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then your future relationships can take on the sweetest flavor, and every slice of life can have an incredible crust of approval that is a joy to experience.
Bake well.
