It is Saturday once again. It has been another busy week but I look back and lots has been accomplished. My living room and dining room are still all messed up because of the attic project but I know that is to be expected. My plans for today is to get a quick run in and then work on the next 6 rafters of stuff, and hopefully have it all sorted by 3 and then use the spare bedroom to store everything that is left down here to take back. I have never had sections in my attic the way I wanted to, and I am going to try very hard to do that this time. I am hoping it keeps being as easy to get rid of most stuff as it has been so far. I am just sick of the clutter. The verses today remind me that clutter isn't good in any area of our lives. It stands in our way from letting us be the best version of ourselves for Him. You go up in my attic and it is hard to walk through because of the messes. You almost have to crawl over stuff to get to the one thing you want. My goal is, by the time I am finished, to be able to go directly to an area, open a tote and get out the things that I need. I feel like God wants us to be the same way with our lives. We need to get rid of all the clutter in our minds, and focus on Him. Wouldn't it be great to not have to crawl over all those words of self-doubt and self-hate and be able to get right to that place to hear God say, "I love you more"?
So, let's look at James 1:16-18
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
16 of course is so short but sets us up for the rest, it also has a lot of value though.
Using our HEAR method, let's take a look
Highlight= Do not be deceived Explain= Pretty easy to understand. Don't be taken in. We do this by filtering everything through our God lens. When Robert was in high school, we had the High School class for AWANA and we went through a book called Looking Through God-Colored Glasses. God gave us the gift of discernment. When you have that deep down gut feeling that something you are getting ready to do is going to end badly, maybe you should think about it and ask God to help you decide. I look at all this junk I am having to get rid of now, I look at all the junk I put in my body, and have put in my body that I have to work daily at trying to get rid of, and I think about all the things that have went into my mind through things I shouldn't be watching and things I shouldn't be reading. It is so much easier to not let them enter in the first place than to try to forget them, or get rid of them. Apply=I need to remember to use my God-colored glasses when making every decision in my life. It is amazing how many decisions we really have to make in a day. I have two sets of friends that know there is at least a 50% chance that when we are together I am going to tell them I am on decision overload and I refuse to make any decisions that day that I don't have to. I don't care where we go, I don't care what restaurant, I just want someone else to decide. I still have to make those extremely personal decisions, like what am I ordering, but for the most part, I get the day off from those decisions. I will back up and point out, these two groups of friends, my 2 BFF's from high school and the group affectionately known as the LIHEAP sisters, I trust them with my life and know they will not make any decisions that would put me in a situation out of God's will. That is important to remember. If someone else is making decisions, you need to trust they are good ones. Respond= Dear Lord, help me daily make decisions to keep my mind, my life and my body free from unnecessary clutter that You are just going to have to help me deal with later.
Verse 17
Highlight= Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Explain= God gives us perfect gifts and He doesn't give us something that is good for us one minute and bad for us the next. He would never do that. God doesn't change. Apply= I need to remember to include God when making any decisions in my life, from what to eat to what to watch, to how to spend my time and who to spend it with. I need His help to make good choices based on the things He has laid out for my life. Respond= Dear Lord, help me make decisions based on the good and perfect things you have laid out for me. Help me stay away from filth and clutter and fill my life with all the things you have provided.
And last but not least, Verse 18
This is the clincher.
Highlight=that we might be the firstfruits of all he created. Explain= this is where the title of this weeks lesson comes from. God made us to be the best of all he created. He built us for success. He gave us the tools, the brain, the heart, and the knowledge to do things for HIM, not for ourselves, but to glorify God. Apply= I have been trying to practice asking God if what I am doing is for my own glory or for His for some time now. I have had some things come up in the past couple of years that can make my well known in my work circles, but I always want people to know that it is for the glory of God. My calling here on earth is to care for others and to make sure those who are in need are taken care of and get to have a decent life here on earth. Our customers lack some of the things others take for granted and I love what I get to do, but I hope people know God is who gave me that heart for others. I don't shy away from talking about my relationship with God when I am making presentations, even when I think it may get me in trouble with another human, I know it won't get me in trouble with God. And honestly, I have yet to have it get me in trouble with another human. Respond= Lord, help me daily to be the best version of myself that I can be for YOUR glory. Help me be the best I can be at my job, my personal life and my spiritual life for YOU. Let everything I do and say point toward the cross. I want to live my life so others don't have to be told I am a Christian, they will be able to see it.
This looks so easy, and if we were the only person on earth, it might be, I said might. I do know I have friends who have been put in situations where I truly believe they entered into it thinking it was God's will, even praying about it. And even though it ended badly, maybe it was because God wanted to give us something because of that situation or God wanted us to learn something. I think the hardest thing to deal with is other people's hearts. We think we know people and find out we don't. We think they are trying to walk with God and find out that it was kinda like makeup and was on the skin but never penetrated the heart. So, as you go about your day, I hope and pray you have the pleasure of surrounding yourselves with all the good God gave you.
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