Day 5 First Love and Motives
11. Philippians 1:21, 23 (NKJV) First Love
21. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain
23. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
a. Am I as devoted to Jesus as I have been in the past?
I am about the same. there have been times when I have been dedicated and other times not so much.
I need to be devoted to Jesus because He, because of His sacrifice, made it possible for me to overcome sin and death and provided a way to live with God.
The ways I can be dedicated to Jesus is by
Serving others
Loving God
Obeying God
b.Am I attentive to Jesus, filled with his joy and peace, and making Him the object of my affection?
It is a day by day thing. Right now as I am writing this, I do not feel the Spirit stir within me. I am under the weather, fighting a head cold and hoping it goes away. My husband and I are going to Albany later on in the week for an American Legion Convention. So I am under a little stress and I haven't even started packing yet. Plus I want to get the house cleaned before we leave. It seemed that it was a chore to open my journal and start writing.
Tomorrow may be different. I can be more spirit-filled one day and the next I allow worries to fill me. I want to be spirit-filled every day.
(As a side note: Everything went well in Albany and had a fun weekend.)
12. Matthew 10:28 Acts 5:29 (NKJV) Motives
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those that kill the body but cannot kill the soul.. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: we ought to obey God rather than men.
a. Am I more concerned with what God thinks about my life than what others think?
I am concerned both ways. Before I learned about God's gift of salvation and before I became a Christian, I was sure I was doomed to an eternity in Hell. Before I became a Christian, I saw God as an unforgiving God. I thought that for a person to get into heaven, you had to be perfect. I had sinned in taking God's name in vain, worshiping idols, selfishness, greed, lying, jealousy, not giving my parents the respect they deserved-to name a few.
While in college, a person told me about God's gift to salvation. This gave me hope since I discovered God for what he is-a loving and forgiving God. Had I always followed in God's footsteps? No. In my almost forty years of being a Christian, I have made many wrong choices in my life. The good thing is God is always willing to welcome me back and embrace me.
However, I am also concerned about what others think of me. I was bullied when I was in elementary school and this carried over into my adult life. I have a low self-esteem and always want to make a good impression with my peers. I had joined the Army when I still in college. This did help create me into a more confident person. So the person I am now is not the one who was bullied as a child.
b. Would I pray, read my Bible, give and serve as much if nobody but God ever notice?
Actually no. I would have to live a life of a hermit and that would be impossible since I have a husband going on 27 years of marriage and one adult daughter who still lives at home.
I do need some quiet time-an hour a day-to do my Bible Study. Usually it means doing my study as soon as I get home from work where my husband is still sleeping or waking up a little earlier when it is my day off.
As a hermit I might be able to study more but I believe the sense of loneliness would get to me. Plus I would have limited resources. I do not believe I would be working if I was a hermit, so I would not have the money to buy books or to pay for the Internet-if even I had Internet Service. Therefore, I would not be involved in excellent groups such as Women's Bible Cafe.
c. Am I more concerned about pleasing God than I am about being accepted and appreciated by others?
Can't I please both? After all I still want to be accepted. I like being appreciated by my hard work and long for friendship and companionship. Still, pleasing God has to take priority over pleasing others.
21. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain
23. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
a. Am I as devoted to Jesus as I have been in the past?
I am about the same. there have been times when I have been dedicated and other times not so much.
I need to be devoted to Jesus because He, because of His sacrifice, made it possible for me to overcome sin and death and provided a way to live with God.
The ways I can be dedicated to Jesus is by
Serving others
Loving God
Obeying God
b.Am I attentive to Jesus, filled with his joy and peace, and making Him the object of my affection?
It is a day by day thing. Right now as I am writing this, I do not feel the Spirit stir within me. I am under the weather, fighting a head cold and hoping it goes away. My husband and I are going to Albany later on in the week for an American Legion Convention. So I am under a little stress and I haven't even started packing yet. Plus I want to get the house cleaned before we leave. It seemed that it was a chore to open my journal and start writing.
Tomorrow may be different. I can be more spirit-filled one day and the next I allow worries to fill me. I want to be spirit-filled every day.
(As a side note: Everything went well in Albany and had a fun weekend.)
12. Matthew 10:28 Acts 5:29 (NKJV) Motives
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those that kill the body but cannot kill the soul.. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: we ought to obey God rather than men.
a. Am I more concerned with what God thinks about my life than what others think?
I am concerned both ways. Before I learned about God's gift of salvation and before I became a Christian, I was sure I was doomed to an eternity in Hell. Before I became a Christian, I saw God as an unforgiving God. I thought that for a person to get into heaven, you had to be perfect. I had sinned in taking God's name in vain, worshiping idols, selfishness, greed, lying, jealousy, not giving my parents the respect they deserved-to name a few.
While in college, a person told me about God's gift to salvation. This gave me hope since I discovered God for what he is-a loving and forgiving God. Had I always followed in God's footsteps? No. In my almost forty years of being a Christian, I have made many wrong choices in my life. The good thing is God is always willing to welcome me back and embrace me.
However, I am also concerned about what others think of me. I was bullied when I was in elementary school and this carried over into my adult life. I have a low self-esteem and always want to make a good impression with my peers. I had joined the Army when I still in college. This did help create me into a more confident person. So the person I am now is not the one who was bullied as a child.
b. Would I pray, read my Bible, give and serve as much if nobody but God ever notice?
Actually no. I would have to live a life of a hermit and that would be impossible since I have a husband going on 27 years of marriage and one adult daughter who still lives at home.
I do need some quiet time-an hour a day-to do my Bible Study. Usually it means doing my study as soon as I get home from work where my husband is still sleeping or waking up a little earlier when it is my day off.
As a hermit I might be able to study more but I believe the sense of loneliness would get to me. Plus I would have limited resources. I do not believe I would be working if I was a hermit, so I would not have the money to buy books or to pay for the Internet-if even I had Internet Service. Therefore, I would not be involved in excellent groups such as Women's Bible Cafe.
c. Am I more concerned about pleasing God than I am about being accepted and appreciated by others?
Can't I please both? After all I still want to be accepted. I like being appreciated by my hard work and long for friendship and companionship. Still, pleasing God has to take priority over pleasing others.
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