seeking what is Christ...

//A dear friend of mine who has been "mentoring" me, challenged me to read the book of Philippians, and I'm still working through it. Here's just a thought from what I read today!

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{For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. -Philippians 2:21}

||This verse really jumped out at me today! I've been sitting here pondering it for several minutes now and there's still a lot to think about there! 

Are we seeking to do the things that God wants us to do? Or are we trying to do the things that we want to do? 

And even more importantly: are we making sure that we aren't making our own things out as the things of God????

I'm primarily speaking for myself, but we need to be so So SO careful that we dont get distracted by what we want so badly that we make it out to be what God wants!!!

hypocrites #1

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith:

these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

-Matthew 23:23 

|| The Pharisee’s + scribes were the “high and mighty” “religious” men of the day. They spent their time “studying” and copying the law so that they might better “preach and teach” it.

Like so many of our religious leaders of today <Pastors, Pastors wives, Pastors children, Sunday School teachers, deacons, deacons wives, deacons children, etc.> these men had a lot of the wrong motives. They liked to stress the non-important issues while completely ignoring the things that were most important.

>>>Sound like anyone you know?<<<

=these religious people were good at giving tithes and offerings> and hefty showy ones at that. They weren’t concerned about giving money to help the missionary that needed to buy supplies to feed his family for the next month. They weren’t giving money so that the church could have nice chairs instead of the rickety old uncomfortable pews they already had.

They were concerned about it being known that THEY were the one who bought the missionaries food and fed them for a whole entire month. They wanted everyone to know that THEY were the ones who bought the chairs for the church so that they could say they went to a church with nice seating.

*They wanted to make a show out of church instead of taking care of the issues that were important like judgment, mercy, and faith.

>JUDGMENT- they forgot to judge themselves and their OWN motives. Instead they judged the outward appearance and actions of everyone else. While yes, we are told to judge sin, we are also COMMANDED to judge ourselves FIRST. If our lives aren’t right> if we are prideful, haughty, judgemental, etc> then we have absolutely no place pointing our finger at anyone but ourself!

>MERCY- The hypocrite conveniently forgets that God was so so so merciful to us. God sent His own Son to this world to save us from our sins. We consistently forget that. In Luke 6:36 God reminds us, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” We are to be as merciful to those around us as God was to us!

>FAITH- having faith isnt always easy. Most of the time it isnt just there. Faith is something that we all have to work at- its something that we NEED people to encourage us to have!

These are the things that need to be emphasized first> matters of the heart< before the outward issues.

Hopelessly in Love

   "When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You'll drive hours to be together, even if it's only for a short while. You don't mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, and not annoying. You'll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you're crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it's painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together...   We need to be like this with God."

     As I scrolled down my Facebook newsfeed one evening, this little photo-quote caught my eye, and I silently began to read. Having been in a long distance relationship for the past three years, I smiled knowingly, as the words of this statement completely identified with the way I felt about my significant other. It described us to a tee, actually. I wasn't quite prepared, however, for that last sentence...

     The simple truth of this profound statement hit me with a sobering clarity. Wow. For those of us in relationships, you understand how it is. You love your man. To death. You would do anything for him. You would gladly sacrifice your time, hobbies, money, and sleep, if it meant the happiness of your other half. When you aren't with him, when you aren't talking to him, it feels like torture. As if half of you is missing. I know. Oh, I know so very well.

But how often are we like this with God?

     In Psalm 63:1-2, David writes, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary."

     Goodness. How many times have we longed for the Lord, as David did? How many times have we been as eager to talk to Him, and stay up into the wee hours of the morning with Him, as we are with our other half? Why do we sometimes think we don't need Him? Our other half may be our best friend, our strong tower, and the love our life, but where does that leave the Lord? The Lord is not merely our friend, He is our strength. Our protector. Our encourager. Our Savior. Why do we so often neglect Him?
     

     When I start straying away from the Lord, even just a little bit, I create problems in my relationship with my dear, sweet "person", whom I shall address as, "J". One thing I find myself guilty of doing quite a bit, is putting J in the place of the Lord. Not purposely, but even so, it creates tension between he and myself, because I have set him up as someone he is not.

     As women, we are prone to lean heavily upon someone. At times, it might be our parents, our mentor, our friends. But when we are in a relationship, that someone is usually the other person. Why? Because us girls are weaker, while he is stronger. He understands you. He listens to you. He supports you. And we thrive off of that. Sometimes though, if we aren't careful, we unknowingly place him upon a pedestal that is equal to God. By doing this, we set ourselves up for disappointment. Our men aren't perfect. They fail, just as much as we do. When we put them in the place that is intended for the Lord, problems begin to arise. With ourselves, because we feel alone and hurt when our significant other fails, or disappoints us; in our relationship with the other person, because we place upon them, an unfair expectation that no one can live up to; and in our relationship with God, because He is not our first priority in life, as He should be.
 

     When we place God first, and keep Him as our number one focus, we stay in tune with life, and with the people who mean the most to us. We must first fall in love with God, before we can know how to love another. 

To keep Christ first in your life, you must first fall hopelessly in love with Him. He never disappoints, never fails. And I promise it's the best thing you could ever do.