 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25 NKJV Drifting. How does a boat end up lost and far off course? The captain of that boat didn’t keep a close eye on the map and the gauges and make course corrections when needed. If that captain allows the boat to get just a few degrees off course, in time, he will be hopelessly lost. How does this relate to our life as a Kingdom citizen? We are that boat, the map is God’s Word and the gauge is the Holy Spirit leading us through this life. The water is this world’s culture! I am seeing a disturbing trend in today’s church that appears to be good but is actually a deception. That is the ever increasing focus on SELF—working on our physical, emotional and mental self. But what about our spiritual self—and most important of all, our God given purpose for life? Again, there is nothing wrong with improving yourself, but not to the point of missing God’s assignments! What are you missing while you concentrate on your “self care” and self-improvement? What are you missing as you “work through” the wounds, traumas and triggers of your past as the world says you should? What will you miss on the road to becoming your best “you”? It is a distraction. What blessings am I missing out on because I am too focused on "me" to do what God has called me to do? Most importantly, who won’t hear about Jesus and His Kingdom because you need to spend your time and focus on fixing yourself? No one’s God given purpose and assignment is to fix themselves. That is His work! Read the rest of that passage that I opened with: From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying,“Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:21-26 NKJV If you want to keep that boat on course, you don’t focus on the boat; you focus on the map and the gauge! For your life to stay on course, you must focus on God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. When we don’t, we begin to drift until one day we will wake up and wonder how we ended up “there”! Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:3-8 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 2 Timothy 3:1-5 There are many who twist scripture for their own purpose. Are they promoting a book, counseling or ministry? What is the motivation? Study God’s Word, get it down in your spirit and pray for wisdom and understanding. My father taught me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them. Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you. Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. Proverbs 4:4-7 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 Listen to the Holy Spirit. That is why He was sent—to lead us and be our guide in our life as citizens of God’s Kingdom! We cannot stay on course without Him! When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from He. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me.’ John 16:13-15 You cannot fail. . . cannot lose with God’s Word and the Holy Spirit leading you! When you have God’s Word in you and listen to the Holy Spirit you cannot be deceived. Blatant sin probably won’t deceive you, but it is those things that give the appearance of being of God that will cause you to drift! They may seem like a good thing but are not God’s Will. Be aware! Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 2 Timothy 3:5 NKJV You may say, "But what about 'your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'"? Yes, we are to guard His temple, and keep it up. But that is talking about sexual sin, not spending our life focused on diet and exercise. A healthy diet and exercise are important, but it should not be the focus of our life! Some people seem to "worship" their own image more than the Lord God. We don't seek it, we seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. Read what Paul says: 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 We do not need to work on ourselves for God to use us. He uses cracked imperfect vessels. We need to give ourselves wholly and humbly to Him to use and fulfill the purpose for which we were born. When we do it in spite of our imperfections and weaknesses, God gets all the glory. People will see what God is doing through us and give Him all the praise for it because they know we aren’t “that good”! We just need to get out of our own way and let God move in our lives. No self care, no self love, no self focus needed! When you focus on yourself, your world is very small and borders on New Age beliefs. As Paul said, “That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 Be a Kingdom light shining in the darkness, Deborah A. Luchie www.kingdomcitizens.org |
