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| Messages Articles Corinthians 14:26-33 "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. " |
Catch this...
We've all heard the saying that being Christian is
caught, not taught. What does this mean?
We have
all felt, at some
point, a sense of Christian utopia
filled with euphoric feelings. We
acclimate ourselves to Christian music, Christian books, and Christian
television programs. We’ve sometimes
filled our schedules with Christian events turning up our Christian
music,
selling our Christian books, and talking about the previous night’s
Christian television
programs. And sometimes our world becomes
‘me’-centric first, and a ‘Christ’ focus second, not ‘Christ’- centric
with an ‘others’
focus. We may have heard this before but
it’s always good to be reminded of why we are here. We
worship God alone with a commissioning to disciple
the nations.  We
can
remind ourselves of this truth by watching the ‘me’-centric gauge in
ourselves. What are the red alert signs that we can
use
to re-focus on God and others? First, do
we criticize more than we contribute to other people’s
lives? If so, we need to get back to loving others
with grace and live our lives next to others with our lives
worshiping God in
action, not just with our lips. People
need to see us worshiping God with all that we have so that
they
feel inspired
to live with their hearts towards God.
Let’s not shy away from our call in this (1 Corinthians 11:1)Secondly, do we keep more than we give? I’ve heard some people say that they want to fulfill all of their financial goals first before they open up that soup kitchen for the homeless. Instead, why don’t we steward what God is giving us now financially, spiritually, and materially by feeding and witnessing to the homeless today – let’s not put off tomorrow what we can give today! We can be in the moment now and expect ourselves to not miss the opportunity to sow into others’ lives. Let’s use our time and talents to bless others, not just our money. We can take up God’s call to be generous because He is generous and never stops giving! Thirdly, is our love for God taking a backseat to something else? This is the most important point because if we truly love God, then we truly love His ways. And if we truly love His ways, then we truly love His people (believers and non-believers). Let’s get a revelation of Isaiah 55:8: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" declares the Lord". Let’s get our hearts aligned with God’s heart, not the other way around! We can only do this by reading His Word more than reading books about His Word! It’s cliché I know, but we do receive when we give. But we give and love God and others because He loved us first (1 John 4:19). He continues to love us and this truth needs to be revealed to us each day. Father, please give us a revelation of You and Your absolutely true ways. May we continue to feel your love for us each day so that we can learn to love others with Your love and Your heart. Continue to conform our hearts to Yours, transform our minds to Yours, and to form our will to Yours, Amen! Victor G. |