Category Archives: Me- centered life

God’s Image Bearer — A Life of Significance

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“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Have you ever felt that you were here for something more than just the ordinary daily grind? That is because you are! God created you in His image. An image is a representation of a person, expression of, copy of, reflection of. You and I were created to represent and express God. We are a copy of Him or a reflection. This is our true design. It is what we were meant for.  We were created to display God to all of creation. We were made to display God’s character and His ways. 

This desire for something more or something bigger than ourselves has been placed deep within us. Ecclesiastes 3:11 describes it this way. “…He has also set eternity in the human heart…”  God has made us for something greater. That greater is Himself! 

The problem is we have been deceived into thinking WE were made for a life of greatness — where we exalt ourselves and we make ourselves known. Living to promote and exalt ourselves will only end in emptiness. We are meant for more, a life of significance — one that signifies or makes someone who is greater (GOD) known. A life of significance is a life of meaning and purpose. 

Have you felt the longing for something more in your life or something greater than what you are currently experiencing? So often we are deceived into thinking that we need to do more for ourself in order to be happy — gratify ourselves, exalt ourselves, do more to fix ourselves (self help). This is a misplaced longing. 

The longing for something more is not meant to discourage you or make you feel less than… It is meant to draw you to what you were created for — the  one true “life of significance” — a life in pursuit of knowing God! 

We can only experience this as we are connected to God in a deep and intimate relationship. It is through that relationship that God shows Himself to us and through us! The more we know Him, the more we will display Him or live as we were created to live, as God’s image bearer, reflecting God to those around us! 

Chosen Out of the World

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Today let’s read John 15:18-25.

““If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus warned His disciples that the world would hate them. What is the world? It is the system of values and desires that are opposed to God and His will. (Bible Hub) 

1 John 2:15-17 describes the world: 

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”‭‭ 1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The lust of the flesh -sinful cravings; the lust of the eyes — lust for material possessions or appearances; the pride of life —arrogance and self sufficiency; these are all part of the world. 

Those who pursue the things of the world will be in opposition to the things of God. They will hate and persecute the ones who truly follow Jesus… As followers of Jesus we are “chosen out of the world.”

What I must understand is what side am I on? 

Am I pursuing the things of the world?  Do I chase after the sinful cravings of my old sinful nature?  Do I desire prideful importance and position over exalting God as Lord of my life? Do I think I am able to live my life independent of God — not seeking Him, His will, or His truth in His Word? 

Do I love God or Do I love the world? 

Love As He Loved

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Let’s read John 15:9-17

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love — A deliberate act of one’s will to promote, benefit, or prosper another for their own sake at no cost to them; a deliberate act of one’s will to do that which is the very best, most excellent, and most profitable for another without expectation of something in return (Living Life Live)

When my oldest was born, I began to get a picture of what God’s sacrificial love is like. I would sacrifice sleep, my time, money, my entire life to provide what I thought was best for that sweet little helpless baby. He had nothing to offer back except his need to be held and loved and his newborn baby smell. 

We are that to God. Honestly if we look deeply at ourselves, what does the God of the universe really get in pursuit of us? For myself, I can tell you… He gets a mess… someone who willingly has chosen to do the opposite of what He commanded time and time again. He gets someone who is helpless to fix themself. The truth is, without Him, I am needy and I am spiritually poor… But HE loves me! HE was willing to give Himself away so that I could be His! 

When I realize all the truth of how God loves me, I realize that my life is not my own. As He has loved me, I am to love others. God’s love is never selfish. It always gives. I am to live my life as He did — willing to give myself away in service to Him and others. My life is not about myself. It is God’s. He fills me with His self sacrificing love so that I can love like Him! 

Do you understand what you are truly like without God’s sacrificial love? 

Do you understand how much God wants you to experience His love?

Are you experiencing His love? And Are you loving like Him?

Obedience

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Today let’s read John 14:15-23.

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our one true purpose is to KNOW God! Jesus tells His disciples how to fulfill that purpose. He told them that it is the  one  who “keeps” His commands that truly loves Him. It is the one who truly loves Jesus who Jesus shows Himself to or makes Himself KNOWN. 

Jesus said that if we love Him, we will OBEY His teachings and His Father will love us and they will come and make their home with us, or dwell with us. (John 14:23-24) 

Obedience to what God says gives us a close and intimate relationship. Disobedience (sin) put’s God at a distance. It separates us from Him. 

We need to remember that all that God commands us in the Bible is for our good. What He tells us He requires is meant to keep us from harm and to help us walk close to Him. When we are truly in love with Jesus, we will want to do what He says because we will want to please Him and be close to Him.

The problem is when we are not truly living our lives close to Jesus we want our way… when we want it and how we want it… THEN “obedience” seems like it is a “dirty word.”  We do not consider what God wants. If we live our lives at a distance from Him, obedience will seem like a task and a burden. 

Here’s the kicker….We can’t come to God on our own terms… If we live our lives chasing our ways with no consideration of what He has told us, we need to take a look at what is in our spiritual hearts. 

Jesus said the greatest command is this: 

 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your souls and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) 

If you and I are truly loving God, we will do what He says in His Word. Which means we need to know His Word so we can obey it. 

How is my love life with God? 

Do I desire to KNOW Him and His Word so I can obey Him and then live my life connected to Him in an intimate relationship? 

Or does the word “obey” feel like a dirty word to me? Does it make me recoil at the thought of it?

Hard heartedness

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Today let’s read John 11:45-57.

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.””

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭47‬-‭48‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I am always amazed at the hard heartedness of the religious leaders of Jesus’s time. Jesus simply did not fit into their agenda. They wanted things the way they wanted them, when and how they wanted it… They pursued their ways so much that they had drifted further and further from the very God they claimed to serve. They could see Jesus doing miracles that were beyond explanation, but they chose to pursue their ways instead of following Him. They stood there in the very presence of Jesus and they were not moved by His words, His miracles, His love… I would like to point my finger, but there have been times in my life that I chose to go my way instead of pursuing Him. There have been times I’ve heard His voice, saw His miracles, and yet turned away. 

Lifehouse recorded a song in the year 2000 thats lyrics have been rolling around in my head this morning as I have thought of this section of scripture. 

“You are the life to my soul

You are my purpose, you’re everything

… And how can I stand here with you

And not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be

Any better than this?” 

You and I were created with a purpose — to Know God! A hard heart will keep us from realizing this purpose. Sin hardens our hearts. What is it that stands between you and God? Are you able to stand in the very presence of Jesus and not be moved by Him? 

This video illustrates the things that get in between us and God. Let’s ask  these questions: “How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?” 

Is there an area of sin in my heart that has caused me to have a heart that is hardened towards God? 

Am I living my life wanting only what I want when and how I want it? Or is knowing Jesus my one true purpose, my everything? 

The Romans Challenge: Overflow!

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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We were not created to dwell in anxiety, fear, and depression!

Long ago, in the Garden of Eden, mankind was created to dwell connected to God. We were made to be His image bearers, reflecting all that He is to our world. When sin entered, that connection was broken and that image was shattered. However, Jesus came!

Jesus came to set us free from sin and to enable us to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives the moment we receive the New Life Jesus came to give us! The Holy Spirit empowers us to live according to our original design as “image bearers” of God.

Our God is a God of Peace. Our God is a God of joy. Our God is a God of hope! By the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, we can be filled to overflowing with His peace, joy, and hope! Yet so many of us do not live our lives this way…

I know this from experience. For years, I lived as a Christian full of anxiety, fear, and depression… I tried in my own power, using man’s ways, to fix the way I felt. All of these attempts ended in failure. Until, I determined that I needed to truly surrender EVERY area of my life to God. I decided that I would pursue Him above all things, and live my life focused on Him!

How is this even possible? By the power of the Holy Spirit! By faith in God and His Word, i.e. trusting in Him!

I was living my life focused on me. I was very me-centered! God made us to live our lives focused on Him. Our thoughts are to be focused on Him and His Word. Our speech is to reflect that focus — speaking His truth and His life regarding ourselves, our circumstances, our families, etc. Our actions will fall into line as our focus is laser focused on God and His Word!

Here is the truth of what we all need… We need to live our lives with this motto: Less of me…More of Him! When we overflow with the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will experience what we were created to be all along: People who dwell with hope— a confident expectation of good; People who trust Him — believe that God said it, I believe it, that settles it; People who live with joy, — an emotion that is excited by the expectation of good; People who live with peace — freedom from disturbance or agitation.

Holy Spirit we ask You to fill us up til we overflow with You!

The Romans Challenge: Wake Up!

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“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Spiritual drift happens… It’s easy to get lulled away into spiritual “slumber.” Our enemy will work little by little in our circumstances over a period of years and years to get us to slowly wander from the truth.

I know this from first hand experience. One “little” lie that I believed 20 years ago took root and slowly grew inside of me until I had drifted and found myself in a spiritual “slumber” or negligence. This negligence of my relationship with God, drift away from Him, caused me to be miserable. I was anxious, angry, bitter, and more. Thankfully God used some godly older women in my life to encourage me to “wake up!!” In fact, the exact wording one spoke to me as I sat in her home telling her all of my troubles, “Janet, the problem you are having is you have left your first love.” Instead of putting “aside the deeds of darkness,” I was dabbling with whatever I felt like I could get away with. I was not living my life in a wholehearted pursuit of God.

“The hour has already come for {us} to awake from {our} slumber.” God wants us to be alert and pursuing Him! Spiritual complacency will only lead to death, darkness, and destruction in our lives. We are either moving forward towards God or drifting away. If we are drifting off to sleep, we will find ourselves far from the peace, joy, love, and life that God desires for us to experience in a close and intimate relationship with Him.

Wake up!! You and I have been called to live “Awake and Alive.”

The Romans Challenge: Live In Harmony

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“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You and I were meant for connection to God and each other. We aren’t meant to do our lives alone. This is why believers in Jesus are united in a family — the Church. When we live in harmony — a connected whole (Websters 1828) — we will experience growth, encouragement, love, and relationship with each other. This is God’s plan for us.

Pride kills harmony. When our focus is on ourselves — what we want when and how we want it, we CANNOT live as God intends for us to live, connected and united with our brothers and sister in Christ.

We are called to live a God centered life. Our focus is to be on Him. We are to display Him in our actions. Our lives are to be totally submitted to God, totally dependent upon God, and totally obedient to God. When we live this way, God unites us to Himself and to others within His body, the Church.

BUT, if our lives are built upon ourselves — doing what we want and calling our own shots… we will exhibit pride, conceit, and division. We will be separated from the connection to the Body of Christ that we are meant to experience. Destruction will be the result of our choice to follow “self.”

Father, help us to live in harmony with each other. Help us to leave behind our selfish ways and to live our lives with You in the center. As we follow You and obey You, fill us with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can live as You intended us to live in harmony — ONE!

The Romans Challenge: Salvation’s Certainty

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“As the Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”” 
Romans 10:11 NIV

The world is full of get rich quick schemes and self-improvement plans. It seems like the role of “life coach” is a booming prospect in a lot of circles. We, as humans, like to think we have found the answers to improve our lives and make us happy and rich. But time and time again, our plans fail…

There is only one way for us to truly be changed. There is only one way to find contentment and peace. This is found in a relationship with God. You and I were created for relationship with Him. We will not find what we are looking for chasing the latest fads and schemes.

The problem that causes all the discontentedness and disconnection in our lives, isn’t our lack of self realization. It is SIN and it is living according to our selfishness. Simply put, we need a Savior.

Jesus knew exactly what we needed when He came to provide the way for salvation. What is broken in us can be made new when we confess Jesus as Lord of our lives (turn our lives over to Him), and when we believe that He truly is our Risen Savior. God’s promise of New Life in Christ is certain. If we believe and if we call on Him, we will be saved. We are assured that we “will not be put to shame.”

God’s plan to renovate our spiritual hearts and to make us new are not some fantasy we chase. God’s promise of eternal life is certain. We won’t be disappointed or disgraced in the end. Plans for life change that fall outside of the truth of Scripture will always fall short. Because “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Thank You God that You have provided all we need for us to have Your New Life that You offer us! Thank You for the certainty of salvation. We know You promises are true. What You say You will do. When we come to You and believe we won’t be disappointed. We “will not be put to shame.”

The Romans Challenge: Child of God

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“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

My grandchildren are precious to me. When they come over to my house and snuggle up on my lap for a time of being held, I am totally enamored with the feelings I experience. My love for them wells up inside of me. The conversations about what is important in their world — legos, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, and Dr. Seuss books — happen. It is beautiful to me. It is a reminder of all the times I had with my own kids as they were growing up, when my world revolved around their world.

God feels this way about us. When we received Jesus and His Holy Spirit came to live in us, we were adopted by God. We have the full rights of a child of God. We can approach Him, not as a lowly slave, but as His very own sons and daughters. In fact, the Holy Spirit enables us to cry out to our Heavenly Father as “Abba, Father” which in Hebrew means “Daddy.”

I have to admit that calling God “Daddy” almost seems scandalous to me. It feels a little awkward. That’s probably because of all the years I have lived not in full awareness of my new position in Christ. Instead of listening to the Holy Spirit testifying to my spirit that I am indeed God’s Girl”, I have lived identified with an identity as a slave to fear.

Fear is an uneasiness of mind that focuses on the thoughts of a future of evil that is likely to befall us. (Websters 1828 Dictionary) Living our lives focused on ourselves will lead us to nothing but fear. This is slavery… bondage. We were made for connection and focus, not on ourselves but on someone greater than us — God. We were made for relationship connected to Him by faith and love.

When we understand that we have been adopted by God, accepting this adoption by faith— believing and trusting what God has said is true — we will experience His love. We will see that all of God’s will is focused on our good. He desires to benefit and prosper us in everything. We will experience what my grandson does when he crawls up on my lap and tells me about all the little boy stuff that is important to him. We will see that God wants us to do the same. He is our Heavenly Daddy who wants us to crawl up on His lap and pour out our hearts to Him. (Psalm 62:8) He loves us and wants us to experience Him in close and intimate relationship.

God longs for us to come to Him like children — in total dependence upon Him. He desires for us to totally obey Him and submit to Him as our Daddy. He wants us to know that as Our Heavenly Daddy His plans for us will always be good. He will always be working things out for our good. Everything He does is good.

We do not have to dwell in slavery to fear of impending evil and doom. We have been adopted by God whose very nature is goodness and love. He holds us close. We are His children the ones He loves.

“I am no longer a slave to fear… I am a child of God”