by David Brenneman
These are some notes and questions that were memorable enough for me to keep from several years ago.
"Jesus replied:'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment..."
What gets your attention and affection more than God?
What gets the attention in your week more than God?
What are you chasing, hoping that it will satisfy you that isn't God?
What are you going after thinking its going to provide a soul level happiness that isn't God?
How often do you prefer to choose your way instead of God's way?
What area of life are you most tempted to choose your way instead of God's way?
Jesus said that your life journey is now to surrender and go all in with with your heart your soul and your mind. Not to earn the love but because you received the love.
Not trying to get it but live out of it.
Christ followers are being baited into fighting people and not ideas.
When the culture tries to get you to fight people and not ideas don't take the fools bait.
Consider what these questions are asking you and I.
In our world where status is becoming the driving force of acceptance, making critical decisions based on that and emotional responses is becoming more the norm.
Look at the plethora of videos both real and imagined using AI to display the folly of people in just traffic incidents. Of how people aren't thinking or considering the ramifications of their thoughts, emotions and actions.
Look at what drives you. What has become the most important thing in your life? Is it still in pleasing Jesus or has that been slacking?
Are you going with the flow or are you resisting what the world is offering? Have you started putting your relationship with Jesus lower in your priorities?
No catastrophic change to your relationship with Jesus is going to happen overnight.
You'll compromise a little here, a choice there.
There's great significance in heeding the warning to stand firm in the Lord!
Our lives are not our own. This we must never forget.
The early Church was radical and different. Much different and easily much better than the Church of today. Their priorities were each other and growing in Christ. Daily they went about house to house. As a Church they were living out what the Disciples had learned of putting their all on the altar. Of giving up everything to live in obedience to God's will.
There was a video that I watched yesterday that wasn't the first of its kind on the subject for me to hear.
It was of someone asking AI if it was the devil what would it do.
The thing is while I don't know if this person in this video actually went through with this supposed conversation with AI, the things stated were actually accurate.
Of how subtlety would be the hallmark of its work. In getting people to just turn away from God even for a moment to something a little more attractive. To get people to pay more attention to this or that and to make these things more interesting.
We can't be too careful!
Indeed our lives are hidden in Christ Jesus but our hearts must stay there too!
We are needing to call things as God's Word calls things and to not redefine things to make them less offensive to ourselves.
We need to be as committed to helping others grow in Christ as the early Church did.
We need to turn away from the allure and seductive ways of the world and back to living for Jesus with all that we do.
When we use worldly excuses to not come together and it's acceptable to those in the Church then the devil has a foothold.
Jesus called the Disciples to be fully devoted followers of Him.
Not part-time. Not when they could fit it into their schedules.
Review those opening questions.
Are you comfortable with doing lesd and less with Jesus? If so, you ought to be terrified at the notion!
Are you striving to please Him in all that you do or have you decided that it was ok to do less? Again this should shock you if it's true!
Consider well what choices and decisions you made based on emotions rather than God's Word that has directed your life away from His plan and purpose for your life.
Pray that your eyes may be opened to the truth about you.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
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