Do Nothing from Selfish Ambition

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3

Mother Teresa once said, “Whenever there is an absence of peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Do you live throughout your day thinking about “belonging to each other”? What would happen if you did? What would happen if you woke up today and literally lived on purpose towards the betterment of someone else? From Phil Jackson at Red Letter Christians

Humility is a Thing of Beauty

Superior

Whatever you believe makes you, your church, your philosophy, your career or anything else for that matter superior to others… is just wrong.

Help is on Its Way

These Little River Band lyrics really spoke to me today:

Hang on, help is on its way
I’ll be there as fast as I can
Hang on, a tiny voice did say
From somewhere deep inside the inner man

Don’t you forget Who’ll take care of you
It don’t matter what you do
Form a duet, let Him sing melody
You’ll provide the harmony

I want my life to be a duet and sometimes a chorus but please never a solo Lord.

Deciding

I’ve had the chance to watch someone make the best out of what’s going on around them this week even though the surroundings are not necessarily what they would choose on their own. It’s been great to see how it’s possible to decide you’re going have a good time and actually have a good time when it would be just as easy to focus on yourself and have a crappy time. Thank you for your example.

Surprises

Today is going to have its unexpected turns. You’ll be faced with fear, doubt and the desire to take matters into your own hands. There will be evidence that says you’re unloved, disrespected and unwanted. Fear not, at each of these turns you have the opportunity to give them to The Lord and the chance to trust that they’re better dealt with by Him. You see, nothing takes God by surprise so what could be better than to walk through this day completely with and in Him?

Trust Me

Another thing God is certainly always saying is, trust me. He always has your best in mind. Following Him will never result in anything less than ultimate good. Peace is the prize. Sure there will be challenges in this life, the people around you will make decisions that hurt, you will make choices that are not good for you or others but He is not only capable of redeeming them, it is what He wants to do if we’ll let Him. This isn’t to be thought of as always getting what we want. It’s the promise He gives that we’ll forever get what we need.

Couldn’t He Tell Me?

Hearing God’s voice should never be an excuse to put ourselves between He and someone else. We should also never allow people to put us there. The intimate, one of a kind relationship God wants with us is also what He wants with everyone so why would we want to hinder that by getting in the way. We are called to encourage others towards Him. If we are given a Word for someone we need to be extremely careful in how we present it and ask them to seek Him in order to hear it for themselves.

One point of clarification, the “Word” we are talking about is a specific thought or action relating to a unique situation in someone’s life. This is not the same as Biblical wisdom that is always applicable. It’s always okay for us to share from The Word.

Check Yourself

Now maybe we’re hearing from God so the next thing to keep in mind is to always check ourselves. That list from Galatians that we mentioned a few days ago? Well, we need to make sure that’s who we are too. A Word from God will never be self-serving. We should examine our motives all the time. We should ask ourselves questions like: “Am I just hearing what I want to hear? Is this what’s best for everyone or just me? Is that really you God? Questions are always good. God loves them.

Check

Because of man’s selfish nature we should always examine those that are claiming to have a Word from God. This might seem like a difficult task but it’s not as hard as you think. God has given us The Bible for the purpose of checking out what people say. Some of you are thinking, “Hasn’t the Bible been misused by people too?” That’s for sure. However, in the book of Galatians we are given a checklist that is hard to fake. We’re told in Chapter Five that rather than focusing solely on what folks say, we are to look closely at who they are. You see a person that’s intimate with God, that’s led by the Holy Spirit and that knows Jesus is filled with: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. Whatever is presented as a word from God should be backed up by this list not only in the life of the speaker buy also in how it’s communicated.