Day 2289 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Matthew 16:24 NIV

The past couple of days I've felt the need to refocus. I go through periods where these posts feel really good. They flow really well and it feels like everything goes as it should. Then there are other times when it feels like I stumble my way through them and probably completely botch the job. Here lately I feel like I've had too much of me in them. And that's definitely not the goal!

One thing that I never want any of these posts to be about is me. This isn't about me. It isn't about what I think or what I think I know. It's all about Christ and sharing the Gospel. I always try to bring these posts around to the messages and lessons of the Bible. Now I know I've gotten some wrong. I know I've missed the mark. I know that I've strayed off topic and probably taken some verses out of context. But it gives me something to work on, and that's just what I intend to do!

You know, learning to put ourselves aside is a challenge for all of us. We live in a world that's all about self. But that way of thinking just won't work with this mission to share Jesus with the world. It's pretty hard to point others to Him when we keep putting ourselves in the way. That's why we need to reach the end of ourselves and learn to put our innate selfishness aside. If this isn't all about Him then we're truly missing the point.

As Christ Himself says in this verse, we have to deny ourselves. The things that we want, the priorities that we have, the plans that we've made will not get us where He needs us to be. They will not help us share His message. They will only accomplish what we want for ourselves. Chasing this life that we envision will take us in a far different direction than the plans He has for us. We simply can't follow Him and do what we want to do at the same time. That's trying to walk on both sides of a fence at the same time, just ain't gonna work!

We have choose. But if we truly want to serve Christ and share Him and His life-changing message of love and salvation then we cannot be anything but all in. There is no room to bring our selfishness along for the ride. All the pride, all the self-serving priorities, all the hopes and dreams have to be set aside so that we can focus completely on His calling for us. After all, we're not the ones who can save. We're not the ones who paid the price He paid. We're not the ones who can heal hearts, that's all on Him. You and I are just the ones that point the way!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2016 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 6:20 NIV Yesterday I posed a very big question: have you ever thought about the vastness of eternity? I'm just afraid that so many people are living for these lives only, and that's going to lead to quite a shock when we reach the end of this leg of the trip only to find that something else really does come next. So I just want to encourage everyone to take today's verse to heart. This is one that my mom likes to quote and share quite often. And it's really a very important lesson that everyone needs to learn and always keep in mind. While we're surrounded by all kinds of messages, things, wants, and desires, we need to always keep our priorities in line. We can't afford to let ourselves become distracted by all the wares that our world offers up. The thing that I think we've fallen for is this idea of value. We're told that all this worldly stuff is highly valuable. Now if that's the case, then we automatically think that having it or going
Read more

Day 2018 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Luke 6:27 NIV I was presented the chance earlier today to experience one of those amazing opportunities to realize that I'd been wrong. You see my family and I had bought some Bibles to send to a couple of people, and we just hadn't gotten around to sending them yet. Since the time that we bought them, we kind of had this weird and unfortunate falling out of sorts with one of them. And I'm embarrassed to admit that it had me second guessing whether or not to send the gift.  Seeing as how this difference of opinion has gone, I had gotten it in my mind that I didn't want to send something to someone only for them to throw it away. But all along, my mom has been there saying no, we need to send it anyway. And today, we finally got them boxed up and sent out. But if anything, I may have ended up getting the biggest gift out of everyone involved. We don't get to decide who is worthy of our kindness. We don't get to pick and choose who we're going to do good thing
Read more

Day 3362 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 15:8 NIV It seems as though perhaps the distance from our heads to our hearts is, at times at least, much the same as the separation we so often feel between here and hope. For though our lips are geographically close to the hearts which pound inside a craving for more than we can say we need, say we know, yet sadly despite their being so near to our knowing what we need, we find that our mouths and our hearts are existing as if in two foreign places. Because while our heads may hold lips that let on that we know we need Heaven's hope as having come in Christ, our hearts remain among the ultimate deceivers as they lead us daily back into the brink wherein we break away all over again into disbelief as designed inside a heart’s desires kindling fires forsaking that faith which yearns only for a fellowship with He who is everything we could ever need. Indeed, it seems to matter not what our tongues here confess as our hearts head us always into following the path our mouths c
Read more