New Year's Resolutions

People make New Year resolutions as a way of verbalizing the changes that they want to make for the new year. Many people say they want to lose weight or spend more time with their families. They say so many things that many keep but a vast majority do not keep ...

I was thinking of this the other day. I was thinking that for many New Year's Resolutions is sort of like their walk with Christ. They start off saying that they want a change.. They want things to be different, yet many do the same things with their walk that they do with their Resolutions... They try to change the thing without making it a lifestyle change. They try to cut corners. This is why for many they cannot keep their Resolution past the first week in January. This is why for many they get frustrated in their walk with Christ and give up...

In order to keep up our walk with Christ, we have to make it apart of our life. We have to incorporate it in everything that we do. We cannot just say I want to change... and not change how we do things.

The scripture that comes to  mind initially is Ephesians 4:23: And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. There are many other places that talk about renewing your mind - changing your way of doing things. The entire Bible itself is based on changing the way we do things. It is a clear example of what to do when one way is not working. It was no longer working for the people not to have a Messiah. The people, however, would never be able to accept a Messiah if they could not change how they thought the Messiah should be and how the Messiah should come. Many did miss out because they couldn't let go of how things had been done, but for those who were able to let go.. They got to experience a peace that had not been experienced before. This allowed for them to be able to continue their walk with the same enthusiasm in which they started out their walk with. This is the thing that allows us to continue in our walk with Christ.

Many of us make New Year's Resolutions without incorporating it into our everyday life. Many of us cannot keep our Resolutions past the first week in January. My challenge to you is to whatever you decide to make as your New Year's Resolution that you make it apart of your life. I challenge you not to cut corners,  but to have it be an active part of your life. I challenge you to do the same thing in your walk with Christ. I challenge you to make Matthew 6:33 not just words you repeat, but that you actually Seek ye first the kingdom of God.... When you seek him first, you change how you do things........

Have a Happy New Year, and let's work to make 2014 a year in which we do not cut corners. Let's make it a year in which we work on changing our minds...

What is my Motivation?

During the Christmas season, we walk around being nice to people who any other time we may ignore. Why do we do it? What is our motivation?

It makes me wonder at times because it questions our motive. Are we doing it because of the season or because it is genuinely in our hearts.

I bring this up because it ties into why we choose to be Christians - is it for the fame, wealth and/or riches that we think we are going to get or is it out of genuine love and curiosity that we choose to be Christians?

The story of Abraham comes to mind. He is told by God to pack up, leave everything behind, and move to a new land. The covenant that God makes with Abraham is that if he does this, he will be the Father of many nations. This does make you think that his motivation for following God was to have a son and that was his only motivation. After Abraham gets his son, God then tells him to kill him. Abraham, while it pained him, was willing to kill his son - the son that God had promised to him...

I believe that God did this to see where Abraham's heart was. Abraham showed that his heart was with God, not just because he had promised him a son, but because he genuinely loved God... He showed this by being willing to "kill" that which he had been praying and praising God for.

Is that us? Do we follow God because we love him? Or is our motivation less than pure?

My challenge to you during this holiday season is to examine why you are a Christian. Take a look at why you have chosen to follow God. Take stock of what your motivation is...

Ask yourself:  What my Motivation?

Image is everything... or is it?

One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Samuel 6:20-21:

20: Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!

21: And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord.

This came to mind the other day sitting in Church. It was during praise and worship and the praise team was trying to get people to actively participate in praise and worship. At my church, this is not usually a problem, however, while people participate, you can still see that people hold back.... 

Why is that? Why is it so hard to completely lose ourselves in praise and worship? Why do we look around the Church to see what others are doing and/or wearing?   Why is it so hard to just spend that time with God, especially when that is what we are supposed to be doing anyway... For most of us, the hardest thing is to lose ourselves and to lose control... Maybe that's it. Maybe we are not loosing ourselves in praise and worship because we cannot give up control. Is it that to us image is everything? Is it that we put on this persona that we don't want people to deviate from when they think of us?  Maybe it IS the idea that people might think we are foolish as to why we cannot lose ourselves in praise and worship?  

I believe that we should take a page out of David's book. Yes, he praised so hard that he did dance himself out of his clothes. While I am not saying that you dance yourself out of your clothes, I am saying that you when questioned and ridiculed about why you praise and worship with the intensity that you do, that you do what David did he told his wife flat out that because of all of the things God has done for me, I will praise him. This is where we should be. We should get to a point where it does not matter who sees us, but what matters is what God has done for us. Praise and Worship is not for us, it is for God. It is our way of showing God that we recognize where our strength comes from. We should be willing to let go of ourselves and praise God with everything... I mean, when he moves for us, he uses everything in his disposal so why can't we praise him with the same abandonment as David... Or is image everything?