Going From I Hate People to Learning to Love People with Christianity

When was the last time you tweaked your morning routine? Ever thought of switching idle hours with a stimulating walk accompanied by a soulful sermon or Christian podcasts? That's exactly the transformation I've embraced and I'm excited to take you along my faith journey in this episode of Coming Out Christian. I shed light on how my mornings have altered since accepting Christ and the conscious efforts I've been making to adapt my language, all part of my evolution as a Christian.

Ever caught yourself saying 'I hate people'? Well, you are not alone. There was a time when I too harbored an aversion to people, or rather, the idea of being around them. But, my views have drastically changed since I embraced Christianity. In the second segment, I share how my faith has urged me to substitute negativity with love, even in the face of resistance. So, if you've ever struggled with loving people or just need a nudge to adjust your mindset, I invite you to join me as we journey together in learning to love people, one step at a time.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, long time no see guys. How has everyone been? I hope you're doing really, really well. I am doing well. We took a long break from doing the coming out Christian episodes and it's not because I've fallen off the faith wagon we are still going strong. I am still madly, madly in love with my faith journey and learning so much and growing in my faith so much, and it's just been absolutely incredible Not to say it's without bumps or waves or any of those things.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Of course it is. That's a natural part of our journey. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise, although I don't think anybody is or would tell you that walking the Christian path is an easy one by any means. There's lots of challenges and things that come up in the journey. Right, you already know this. I'm telling you things you already know, which is no surprise because we are just sharing our journey. I guess I'm sharing my journey and encouraging you to share in the comments If anything that I'm saying is relatable, or if you're going through certain things in your own faith journey that maybe can help somebody else, or that you're just looking for help or maybe just companionship in this journey that we're calling coming out Christians. So if you don't know already, this is a show for, and by a new Christian. I, as I've said in previous episodes, I kind of went over the whole story, but I'll do it very quickly.

Speaker 1: 1:42

I came to Christianity very late in life I'm turning 52 this month and I finally found my way here, and I think I'm like everybody Everybody in the world, I think, is or has at some point been searching right. We're all searching for something to believe in. We're searching for love, we're searching for acceptance, we're searching for something to believe in and a purpose for our lives and meaning to our lives. We're all searching for the same things, and I have found my way in my place in Christ, and it is so awesome. So we, as Christians, are compelled, are told, instructed, to be witnesses for God, for Jesus, and so that is what I get to do, because I have a platform and people are so kind enough to follow my content, and some like it, some don't, and that's okay too, but I've been given this platform and this opportunity to be able to share my faith, and so that's what I get to do here. I wanted something special and all its own as part of my podcast, so I have the Elsa Kurt Show, which, of course, is my main platform where I do interviews and commentary, and a lot of that actually has to do with political and social topics, the climate that we're in and everything. But I wanted a special lane for everything that had to do with my growing Christian faith and I wanted to share it with people who were either on the same path or contemplating the same path or need to be on this path, whatever the case is. Whatever the case is, if this finds its way to you, then there's a good chance that it was meant for you specifically to see and hear. So thank you for being here the other day. As you know, if you know me, everything is the other day. It could have been a year ago, but this one really was the other day. I think it was just yesterday.

Speaker 1: 3:59

I made a video for TikTok. I've been a little lazy on my TikTok videos. I haven't been doing much of my comedic content, so I need to step up my game and get back to it, and I will, because I love doing it. It's a lot of fun. But I also kind of interspersed my comedic videos with just commentary types of things that pop into my head and that I want to talk about. And yesterday it came to my mind that I wanted to talk about something that I have, for a very long time, been in the habit of saying and that I am working hard at not saying anymore, not thinking and not saying anymore, like just kind of removing it from my dialogue, basically. And I made that video and I put it out. It's like a two minute video literally, I think it's like two minutes and six seconds or something like that.

Speaker 1: 4:58

And this morning I started walking again. I've been very, very lazy really, and I have been exercising and I've just been feeling really lousy about myself, and so I finally realized that, well, the only way you can stop feeling badly about yourself, how you look and how you feel, is to do something about it. So I started walking again. No, no pad on the back here, because it's only day two, this is only the second morning, but, um, I'm just going to walk. That I did that.

Speaker 1: 5:31

But what I'm doing on my walks is what I would normally be doing or have normally been doing in my morning. So my normal morning routine has been I'm up before everybody else and I sit with my coffee in my Bible and or actually, or a podcast, or a Christian podcast like I either listen to, listen or watch Pastor JP, of course, from Solid Rocket Market Common. Or I listened to my home church, which is Emmanuel Baptist, and I listened to Pastor Kerry. Or I listened to Greg Groeschel I never know if I pronounced his last name right, but he's another pastor that I really enjoy listening to, and you know. So I either read or listen, or I just do something that is Bible based, bible learning based, and so that's been my routine. So now, of course, I have to change up my routine, because I'm using that quiet time to go for my walk instead of just sitting, and so I did the next obvious thing, which is to just line up my, my phone with my podcast and so I can listen. So that's what I do Long, very long winded, I'm sorry, but that's what I do, and this morning.

Speaker 1: 6:47

So it's like part listening to a sermon or a lesson and part just quietly walking, just kind of listening to my own thoughts, I guess, and the birds and whatever else is going on outside. And this morning it came to me that the thing that I made the video about see, I'm staying on track, guys, I'm doing it. The thing that I made the video about yesterday for TikTok was actually very much a coming out Christian like episode or that it should be an episode. So we're doing a little preface here so that you know why, why we're going in this direction and I'm not saying like this is the new direction of the coming out Christian series. It's just a facet of, it's just a part of it, and this is, I guess we're just going to call, call it things I don't know, things that I say I guess yeah, here it is, here it is Coming out Christian things I say and things that I say and there's more to it, but I didn't want to put this big, huge, long, crazy thing on here Things that I say that I need to stop saying or that I'm working on not saying any longer now that I have this new perspective and new understanding of things.

Speaker 1: 8:09

So that's what we're going to get into. There's probably going to be more than one, because there's certainly more than one thing that I say that I should not be saying anymore and you can probably I don't want to make assumptions, but you can maybe probably relate to that and maybe you don't even know that you're doing these same things that I'm doing and I'm calling you out, but in a really nice way, hopefully, or hopefully you take it in a nice way that honestly, I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to be helpful, just trying to help and help myself and help you. If this is relatable to you, so I will get, I'll clue you in, I won't keep you in suspense here. The thing that I have been saying for a very long time is and I'm embarrassed to put it on here, but I'm going to yeah, yeah, I've been saying this for a really really long time and you know what happens when you hear something in your head for so long, you really start to, you really believe it. You come to believe that that is an absolute truth and, as I've been on my Christian walk, I have been forced to pause and really reflect on that. So that is what this whole little two minute coming up, two more minutes of dealing with me that you'll have to do we don't have to, but you know what I mean. But two minutes coming right up after this. That's what we're talking about and how I am handling it, or changing it. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 9:55

For years, I've had this really bad habit of saying this one phrase, and I am working very hard to no longer say it because it's not true anymore. The phrase is I hate people. It's a terrible thing to say really, and I know a lot of us say it and it's not really what we mean. We don't really hate people, at least most of us. I'm sure there are people that really do mean it, but I'll only speak for myself. I really don't mean it.

Speaker 1: 10:24

It's not people I hate, it's the actions of people, it's the behaviors of people, and I've gotten in this long term habit of avoiding people, staying away from them, because I just don't want to see or witness any of the things that people do to each other. But then I became a Christian and the Christian teaching is that to be more like Christ, of course, and that means love God, love people. And I kept resisting that second part because I didn't want to have to put myself in a position of dealing with people. Sounds so terrible. So, yeah, I'm working on it, I really am, and I'm finding that I am starting, in small doses, learning to love being around people, and it's because of a whole different perspective and of course that's the Jesus perspective, and oh my goodness, what a difference it makes in how you perceive others and how you respond.

Speaker 1: 11:32

So, if you are finding this at all relatable, stop saying I hate people. Just stop saying the sentence. Stop saying it in your head. Stop saying it out loud and change it to I love people. Even if you don't mean it, even if you feel like you're, you don't mean it and you're just saying words. Keep saying it. You'll start to believe it and you'll start to live it. You'll start to act on that. So there you go, oh, and I love you.