Looking and Feeling Our Best

-

You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! I will obey your decrees. (Psalm 119:4-8)

To what or whom do your compare your life's actions? God charges us with the responsibility and "goal" of keeping his commands - with consistency and dogged determination. We are actually reminded that the 'comparison' we need to make is with his commands - how well are we measuring up to what he asks of us? How consistent are we in making right choices? How much does 'obedience' out-trump all the other choices we could make?

Did you ever stop to consider that your life of obedience is actually an offering of 'thanksgiving' to God? Our passage reminds us that when we live as we should (obedience), we are actually lifting thanks to God with each 'right action' that aligns with his commandments. If we don't know his commandments, how can we live by them? If we don't take time to know the one who gives us those commands, how can we understand the heart behind each one? To know God is more than attending church and hanging around with other church folks. To know God means we take time to actually form a relationship with him.

As relationships are formed, we get to know each other - feeling free to point out something that isn't just right with the other person. My BFF helps me see those tiny wayward 'chin hairs' that sometimes escape my glances in the mirror. They catch her eye at just the right moment, and she is able to point them out to me so I can 'deal with them' when I get home. I want that kind of relationship with God, too. I want him to be able to 'point out' those 'wayward' things in my life that don't bring him honor - choices I have been making that don't reflect his holiness in me. When those things 'catch his eye', it isn't by accident - it is because he is the perfect light, and they NEVER escape him. 

Some think commandments are 'laws' or 'rules' that make it hard to live the way we want. Could it be that the 'way we want' isn't actually the best way for us to be living? Could it possibly be that a loving, all-knowing God sees the end even before we begin down that path? Might it be he loves us too much to see us hurt ourselves with unwise choices? I think all of us need a little time with Jesus each day - to get to know him and to allow us to see just how much he already knows all about us. In that 'sharing' of time, don't be surprised if he points out some 'wayward' choice that needs your attention. It isn't to shame you, but to make you look and feel your best! Just sayin!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment if this message has spoken to your heart.

Popular posts from this blog

Sentimental gush

-
9-11  So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 MSG) Sentimental gush - that is what I kind of feel when I watch some of those sappy "and they lived happily after" love stories. Yes, I believe people can "be in love" and that "love will find a way" and all those other cliches about love. Don't think I am down on a solidly committed and growing relationship - it is just that our world often portrays love in ways that are totally gushy and then doesn't show the very 'hard' side of that loving being vital and vibrant
Read more

Is that a wolf I hear?

-
But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (Romans 6:23) Have you discovered that you no longer need to listen to sin tell you what to do anymore? If you are like the millions upon millions of others who have said 'yes' to Jesus, you likely still have a bit of a struggle in this area. Sin just doesn't 'go away' when you say 'yes' to Jesus - the ability for it to control you does, but the enticement to sin is still presenting itself. The issue is not whether sin still entices, it is really an issue of which voice we will listen to the most frequently! We can listen to our own inward lusts (desires), or we can listen to the sti
Read more

Not where, but who

-
It isn't where we worship - it is who we worship. It isn't about a place - it is about the heart. This Samaritan woman came to draw water from a well, but I doubt she expected this encounter with Jesus. She knew the prophets had predicted the Messiah to come, but did she know she'd encounter him at the side of the well? She just went there daily to draw the water and return to her duties back in the village. Today, she would not only be challenged by someone who knew her past, but she was being challenged to have her future changed for the better. That is how it is when we encounter Jesus - our past might have been a challenge for us, but our future doesn't have to be! “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer ma
Read more