The last few weeks at church have been very good sermons. Our pastors have really challenged us to do some self evaluation and to make action plans in order to follow through on some positive changes. I really like this but the last couple of days I have beginning to feel like it is easy to become very self centered in our spiritual lives. I think we can easily get caught up reading the Bible, listening to sermons, and praying all for the sake of making improvements in our lives. Don't get me wrong I think we can all improve and further our relationship with Christ. But self improvement should not be the only reason we indulge in these things. Recently I have been reading the book of Hosea and it is really interesting to consider God's perspective. In Hosea he is pretty angry with his people and their persistence in worshiping other gods and breaking his commands. He puts Hosea in a position to care for children that are not his but that his wife had as a result of her prostitution. What an awful situation for Hosea to be in and yet that situation is representative of the way God was feeling about his people at that time.
I know that we should look for areas of our life that might not be pleasing to God and we should remedy them, and that through scripture and prayer we can identify those areas. But if that is the only level of interaction we have with God and the only aspect of our faith that we practice then I can't help but think we will be dooming ourselves to a life full of failure and depression. I think there is significant value in taking time to pray and study the word in an effort to get to know God better like we would if we were trying to get to know a friend. Similarly I think we should be taking the time to marvel at what God has done in this world as we read it in scripture and as we experience it in the world around us. That is where we can truly find joy and the encouragement that I think we need to live as followers of Christ in a world that has a lot of evil running around.
Hope everyone had a great month of January. Mine was really busy, but it felt like I got a lot done. We'll see how February goes.
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3 comments:
I feel there needs to be a desire to know God, to fellowship with him and grow closer to Him. I agree often our desires fall into trying to improve self for self's sake not really to honor God much less to actually know Him better. How do we deal with those places where we are told to die to self, say not to self?
We are granted the high privilege of knowing God yet we often would rather do everything but that.
An intimate, loving relationship with God! Wow. I want to improve
I want to do things that please God and discipline myself so I can be more useful in God's work but I
also desire God to know him.
mike from boulder creek
I think often times we get caught up in building our own kingdom instead of building God's. I notice that many of my prayers seem to revolve around me. They aren't just about selfish, material things, but they're still about me. I want to get to the point where my prayers are for God's will do be done. If I'm a part of it, great. If not I should still rejoice because His will is being done.
Moi has a song called "It Pleases You." In that song, he sings about his reasons for living or doing anything. We should live in a way that is pleasing to God. No matter what sorts of things come from it, we should do it.
I may be a little off subject here, but these were just a couple things that shot into my mind after reading the post. Hopefully it sparks some thoughts in the minds of others as well.
Thanks for the comment Tim. Sometimes I try to make myself pray about things that aren't really about me. Like my friends and family and what's going on in their lives. But often it feels like I really have to be disciplined and focused to make sure I'm doing that. I think I would feel great if those things were at the forefront of my mind and that my prayers would naturally turn to the people I care about and their relationship with God.
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