Now I'm not claiming at all to be some sort of Super-Christian. I'm not I am just as human as the next person. But I can see where digging in and not giving into outer influences was due to the Holy Spirit at work in me because I allowed God to be put first in my life. Now there were, and are still, times that I take on so much to where I put thing in between God and myself, but it's the Holy Spirit that brings me back to where I need to be, and convicts me to re-align my priorities.
"You shall have no other gods before Me." - Exodus 20:3 (NASB)
From the time God gave this to Moses, it hasn't changed.
The defintion of god, lowercase G, is :
(lowercase
) an image of a deity; an idol.
) an image of a deity; an idol.(lowercase) any deified person or object
More so than not, we do this in our lives, but we've justified it to the point where we don't see that we are doing it. For Christians we do it with the things of God, or things that are involved in the Christian walk.
We do this with the church building, worship services, preachers, deacons, sunday school, VBS, Summer camps, etc... The list goes on and on, we put so much into these people or things that those things become our concern and we don't remember to focus on God. We are so concerned with the song selection, or what so-and-so is wearing at church that day. We forget that we are coming together in the presence of the Supreme Creator of everything, for His sake.
As Christians we live FOR HIS SAKE!! If we don't then we make an idol of whatever it is we are living for. School, work, family, friends, fun, etc...
God wants us to have a good time, but we forget that we are here for one purpose and that is to bring Him glory! Once we align ourselves with the image of Christ, start living a Christ-centered life, then our desires become that of God and Psalm 37:4 reminds us " Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." (NASB) Anytime we try to delight ourselves in what we are doing, we aren't aligning our hearts with that of God.
I know as a human I am going to mess up, and one thing that I have learned in my time on this earth is that I'm not going to make everyone happy, but as I strive to delight myself in God, and keep Him first I know that that should be my first priority.
We get caught up in trying to make everyone happy, and I want everyone to understand something THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. Not that I don't want to serve people, I do and especially being in ministry that is what I am called to do. But first and foremost I am here to please God, and align myself with Him. If I do that then the out-flow of His love will be seen in my life, and in the service that He leads me to do.
If we just want to make people happy for the sake of making them happy, we will ultimately fail. But if we are in such a love relationship with God that we are seeking after Him constantly He is glorified.
"He is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him." - John Piper
So who are you putting first?
) any deified person or objectMore so than not, we do this in our lives, but we've justified it to the point where we don't see that we are doing it. For Christians we do it with the things of God, or things that are involved in the Christian walk.
We do this with the church building, worship services, preachers, deacons, sunday school, VBS, Summer camps, etc... The list goes on and on, we put so much into these people or things that those things become our concern and we don't remember to focus on God. We are so concerned with the song selection, or what so-and-so is wearing at church that day. We forget that we are coming together in the presence of the Supreme Creator of everything, for His sake.
As Christians we live FOR HIS SAKE!! If we don't then we make an idol of whatever it is we are living for. School, work, family, friends, fun, etc...
God wants us to have a good time, but we forget that we are here for one purpose and that is to bring Him glory! Once we align ourselves with the image of Christ, start living a Christ-centered life, then our desires become that of God and Psalm 37:4 reminds us " Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." (NASB) Anytime we try to delight ourselves in what we are doing, we aren't aligning our hearts with that of God.
I know as a human I am going to mess up, and one thing that I have learned in my time on this earth is that I'm not going to make everyone happy, but as I strive to delight myself in God, and keep Him first I know that that should be my first priority.
We get caught up in trying to make everyone happy, and I want everyone to understand something THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. Not that I don't want to serve people, I do and especially being in ministry that is what I am called to do. But first and foremost I am here to please God, and align myself with Him. If I do that then the out-flow of His love will be seen in my life, and in the service that He leads me to do.
If we just want to make people happy for the sake of making them happy, we will ultimately fail. But if we are in such a love relationship with God that we are seeking after Him constantly He is glorified.
"He is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him." - John Piper
So who are you putting first?
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