Growth

Believing in Blessings

They say that integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. For the Christian, I think it goes a step further, because we know that there is always Someone who’s looking. Knowing that God is faithful to discipline those He loves (Hebrews 12:6) and the fact that we will one day give an account for our deeds here on Earth (2 Cor. 5:10; Matthew 12:36) can be compelling motives for adjusting our behavior. However, knowing that God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6) should also propel our actions. We may not see those rewards here on Earth – they may be of the eternal and permanent variety – but we know that God has promised that doing the things He commands will reap blessings in our life – either in this one or the next.

So we must consider, what does God bless? It’s not just those actions that conform to the standard beliefs on what is considered “good” or “justified”, but I believe that God wants His followers to conform to a higher standard.  God’s standards means we pay our debt, even when there may be a legal way to get out of it, because God wants us to be keepers of our word (Matthew 5:37, James 5:12). It means that we admit what we’ve done wrong, even if the best chance for “getting off” is to make a case that justifies our actions, because God wants us to respect the authorities that He’s put over us (I Peter 2:13-17). It means that we love those who are difficult to love because by this, people will know that we are His (John 13:35). We do all of this not just because we know that God commands us to do so, but because in one way or another, He will bless us through them, and it will cause our lives to glorify Him.

When the best thing is hard to do, it’s often easy to settle for something else that could be considered “right.” May we instead judge our actions by whether it’s the God-honoring thing, believing that He will bless that which brings Him the most glory.

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Growth Relationships

The “Real” Me

Over the years, I’ve been purposeful in trying to make my blog someplace positive.  If there is something that I feel I should write about, I try to focus on what we should be doing rather than what we shouldn’t. This is the first time that I can readily think of that I haven’t take this approach. Hopefully, the reason why will become clear, but if not, know that my intention is not to sound harsh, but to, as is always my intention, focus on the better things of Christ.

Recently, I’ve been amazed at the walls that we humans put up. Especially as an introvert, I’m probably more inclined to put up walls then the social butterflies out there. Even extroverts however, put limits on their social circle. At lot of times these boundaries are drawn based on who we feel comfortable with. “I can’t be myself” around that person we say, so we don’t hang out with them. Or “I can’t be real around them” so we don’t want to let them in to our circles. Somehow, we gotten the impressions that the “reality” of who we are is worth protecting. That “being ourselves” is something of which only the chosen few get to partake.

For Christians, however, I think this position in untenable. After all, what I should be concerned about is not how many people see the real me, but whether or not when they see me, people see Christ. We, like John the Baptist, should be wanting who we are to decrease so that He might increase (John 3:30). As we grow in our sanctification we should increasingly resemble Him. Therefore who we are at our core, should be something that we are pleased to put on display, because for the Christian, there is no greater joy than displaying Christ.  In other words, we need to be less concerned with “being ourselves” and more concerned with “being like Christ.”

Now of course, this isn’t something that we should “fake” – i.e. we shouldn’t do godly things with ungodly motives. Our pride shouldn’t be what prompts us to do things as Christ did, but our heart, in a desire to serve Him more, should be inclined towards the things that please Him.  If we’re doing things just so people will think well of us, that certainly doesn’t fool God and it rarely fools human beings. However, we should recognize then that “being myself” isn’t something to exalt in, but really, who we are apart from Christ, isn’t all that great. Instead, we should focus on how well we’re displaying Him, and if that’s our goal, then we should want as many people to see the real Him, on display through us, as there possibly can.  And if we aren’t doing or saying things that would represent Him well, then those are the things we shouldn’t be comfortable with doing, regardless of how real we think we can be.

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