Heart Check

August 18, 2015

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4

I've seen these verses three or four times over the last few weeks. Everywhere I turned, they just kept popping up. Sometimes, when you see a couple of verses on a little plaque or quoted on someone's status, you read them slowly and you notice something you've never noticed before. That's exactly what happened to me when I saw it on a printable a the Wednesday before last.

I stopped my scrolling and read it. I let it sink in. "Do NOTHING from rivalry or conceit." NOTHING. Words like that can't be confused for any other word or meaning. When we read words like that, we really must listen.

Rivalry (and conceit) is one of our biggest motivators. If you don't believe me, pay attention next time there is a small child around. Listen to their taunting voice when they're really proud about something, "I can do thiiiiisssss annnnnnddddd yyyyyooouuuuuuu cannnnnnn't." "Myyyyyyyy shooooooooesssssss liiiiiiiiighhhhhht up annnnnnd yyyyyyooooooouurrrrrrsss dooooonnnnnnn't."

We love one-uping and outdoing the people around us. We love getting praise and admiration and applause. When we read verses like these, they serve as great reminders of the wickedness that dwells in our hearts. God put these words in His Bible because the fact is, that on their own, His people LOVE doing EVERYTHING out of rivalry and conceit.

The surrounding verses make it pretty clear: we're to replace our doing out of rivalry and conceit with imitating Christ and acting out of humility with the same mind for the glory of the Father that He had. The encouragement we have in Christ, comfort we have in love, participation we have in the Spirit, and affections and sympathy that are ours in Him are to be the grace that keep our hearts turned toward His example (verse 1).

I'll tell you, I have always been a lover of rules. I don't care how silly the rule is, I'm 99.9% likely to keep it and to try to help others do the same. I'm this way because a) I don't want to get in trouble and b) I want to make people happy. I'm a rule keeper out of conceit. This verse (like so many others) flips my soul upside down and makes yet another aspect of my life centered on God.

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2: 12-13

When I do my rule keeping, I must consciously tell myself that it's about serving those around me and living in a way that will not tarnish the name of God. When my motives are pure (aka not wrapped up in ME), then even my rule keeping turns into a way for me to work out my salvation.

What is something that you do out of rivalry or conceit?

What verses have been following you around lately?

The Brain Within Its Groove

October 27, 2014

The Brain, within its Groove
Runs evenly --and true--
But let a Splinter swerve--
'Twere easier for You--

To put a Current back--
When Floods have slit the Hills--
And scooped a Turnpike for
Themselves--
And trodden out the Mills--

Emily Dickinson



A mind IS powerful. If it gets away from you, it is an ugly beast. Unstoppable almost.

Dickinson is content to leave it at that, but her words caused me to continue. The problem of the wicked mind running away and dragging us with it is the real problem behind so much of our anxiety and fear and anger.

 Reading about Zelda Fitzgerald and Isobel Kuhn and even Agatha Christie has let me in on a little secret - I'm not alone in the games my mind plays on me.

I'm not the only one who finds myself very discouraged. I'm not the only one who has times when it seems that the darkness is so overwhelming, there is no way around it. I'm not the only one who looks out at this life and realizes that for all the good, there is a lot of BAD.

I know the power of my mind when it escapes from its groove. I also know the agony that follows.

The best course of action is to not let our minds get away. We must do all that we can to keep them in their groove. Even a fleeting thought, a splinter, and you could be in for yet another "ride". 

What our mind needs is the Word of God working in us by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Only this Word can remind us of the truth and direct our minds to stay on course. 

Are you into poetry? What's your favorite poem?

Do the words of this poem ring true for you? 

Do you battle fear and anxiety? 

 

I might be back next Tuesday 

with a few more thoughts on this.

In the meantime, let's chat! 

Considering Jesus When...

On Friday I wrote about the time my vacuum cleaner taught me to consider Jesus.

Today I want to take the process of considering Jesus a little bit deeper.

Over the last few weeks the temperatures dropped where I live. The skies got dark and moody and we got a fair amount of rain. Do you know what people did? They responded IMMEDIATELY with coats and sweaters and quite a few grumbles. I noticed one woman trudging home from the post office with a slight scowl on her face and a stoop to her back and she pressed on against the weather.

Do you know what I did? I reminded myself that we are in the season that is known as summer. Because of this I can be assured that even though the temperature dropped way down and the sun has been replaced by rain, "summer" will return shortly.

Do you know why I can be sure of this?

Because of verses Daniel 2:21:

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings..."


Now I am aware that season probably doesn't mean "winter, spring, summer, fall", but it does refer to God's reign and rule over EVERYTHING including time and "winter, spring, summer, fall".

I can be sure that summer will return in the same way that I can be sure that the sun will set tonight and rise tomorrow morning. Just like everything else, the seasons are in God's hand.

Just like the vacuum cleaner, this unexpected weather and people's reactions to it forced me to do one thing: consider Jesus. 

I could have joined the humdrum line of people going on about the weather or I could let that weather remind me that God rules and reigns.

How about a negative example? 

When I get super hungry my sin almost always comes out. I get short tempered, easily aggravated,  and rude. Those sins were all there and I gladly go through life sucking up more reasons to react that way and shoving them into the vacuum cleaner bag of my soul for later. When I get hungry I rip that bag out and sprinkle little bits of it on everyone around me. (Ask them....)

The first time I sense that sin bubbling inside of me, do you know what I should do?

Consider Jesus.

He is faithful. He calls me to be like Him and He even prays that God would make me like Him.

Even if I don't get to eat for days (which I know won't be the case), my sin needs to be submitted to Him.  I need to put off what comes naturally to me and put on what comes naturally to Him. And I can!

Do you know why I can be sure of this?

Because of Scriptures like Colossians 3:8-17:

"But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free: but Christ is all, an in all. 

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

On Friday, I mentioned that before we can ever consider Jesus we must be about the business of getting to KNOW Jesus as He really is, by means of the Bible.

He is all and He is in all of God's people and all of God's people are called to do everything in His name giving thanks to God through Him. 

When the weather is crummy. When we are hungry. When we think of telling someone off. When we grow anxious. We are called to consider Jesus.

When the weather is nice. When our soul seems clean. When we are at a table with all of our favorite people. When we think of the ones we love. When we are perfectly at peace. We are called to consider Jesus.

May we gather ourselves around God's Word in order to behold Him as He makes Himself known.

May that gathering lead us to we consider Jesus always.

Would you tell us about what God has been teaching you about who He is lately!

Would you tell us about a time you've recently considered Jesus and gave thanks to God?

One Hundred

Can I just be honest for a minute? I've been a little bit stressed lately. The house is turned UPSIDE down and nothing is where it belongs which makes cleaning a hastle. The renovation projects are at a stand still. The PRESSING thing is finishing up this english class and THEN continuing the work on the house.

You know how it is? You keep getting distracted from the things you NEED to do by everything else that's begging for your attention.

The key to getting out of the rut is simply working on stuff. Write the papers (check), edit the papers (check), prepare the papers to be presented in speech form (not check)... :)

This song by KB (in the video above) has been repeating itself in my brain!!!

The messy house with its renovation projects, the english class, the college degree - they're all just opportunities for me to give my all and in so doing be a testimony of the all that God is for and to me!

Stress is real, but then, so is the call to give it all to Him.

He prepared the work for me to do. I do it through Him and by His strength and for His glory.

Sometimes I do it poorly, but I fight the monsters of stress, procrastination, and perfection with that truth.

Now, I can thank Reach Records for another anthem to assist me in that fight!

What are you finding yourself stressing over lately?

What's your strategy to fight the stress and get stuff done?