- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 18,404
FIRST THINGS FIRST
'I desire to do your will, O my God' Psalm 40:8
Here's one thing you can be sure of: God wants you to spend a large amount of time helping and blessing people. How could He not? Jesus, who had the best possible relationship with the Father, didn't just pop down to earth to complete His mission and scoot off. No, His journey to the cross followed on from a life of tremendous, others-focused love and grace. We are called to live the same way.
Jesus said, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.' (Matthew 16:24,25 NLT) That's a tricky calling, and Christians can be easily distracted from it. It is possible to focus only on our own dreams and visions - the danger there is that if we go too far that way, we will puff up our ego, promote our self-importance and nothing more.
Dreams and visions aren't worthy of your life if they don't bless others, and even a good dream can get in the way of valuing others. So, don't start with goals and targets. Focus first on loving God and loving others, and trust that God's a great driver with a great destination in mind for your life. He knows better than anyone what you've got to give and how best to use it. So whilst you're on that journey, love.
What now? What can you do today to help you become a more loving person? It might mean scaling back on some of your commitments, or things you do often, in order to focus on God's 'first things first.'
written by Bob Gass
'I desire to do your will, O my God' Psalm 40:8
Here's one thing you can be sure of: God wants you to spend a large amount of time helping and blessing people. How could He not? Jesus, who had the best possible relationship with the Father, didn't just pop down to earth to complete His mission and scoot off. No, His journey to the cross followed on from a life of tremendous, others-focused love and grace. We are called to live the same way.
Jesus said, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.' (Matthew 16:24,25 NLT) That's a tricky calling, and Christians can be easily distracted from it. It is possible to focus only on our own dreams and visions - the danger there is that if we go too far that way, we will puff up our ego, promote our self-importance and nothing more.
Dreams and visions aren't worthy of your life if they don't bless others, and even a good dream can get in the way of valuing others. So, don't start with goals and targets. Focus first on loving God and loving others, and trust that God's a great driver with a great destination in mind for your life. He knows better than anyone what you've got to give and how best to use it. So whilst you're on that journey, love.
What now? What can you do today to help you become a more loving person? It might mean scaling back on some of your commitments, or things you do often, in order to focus on God's 'first things first.'
written by Bob Gass
