words vs actions

1 John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

I don't want to be someone who talks a good game but doesn't actually do anything.

living for something

"dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory. Living for something is the hard thing. Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory or recognition. We live for what we believe" Blue Like Jazz

Living for Jesus involves being willing to put in the hard yards. Making good decisions about the little things day-in, day-out.

If "we live for what we believe" then it looks like a lot of the time I believe that I am the most important person in the world, because that's who I live for most of the time.

enemy of God

james 4:4
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

woah there!

the tongue

james 3: 9-12
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

I need to watch what I say in general, but specifically what I say about other people according to this verse. I don't want to curse men who have been made in God's likeness, even though its very easy to do.

the wind

John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

That should make me one of the most unpredictable people around. Is that what I'm like? Listening to the Spirit and following wherever and whenever? Or do I ignore the Spirit and keep doing predictable, comfortable things?

God seem to love operating outside of logic or common sense - so why am I so keen on using those to determine everything I do?

possessions

Phillipians 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want

"If there is something you own that you can't give away, you don't own it - it owns you" (Albert Schweitzer)

Do I own my possessions or do they own me. I need to learn the secret of being content in all circumstances. In a materialistic culture, I need to keep myself well in check.

arrogance

John 9:34

They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

Do I have this attitude? I'm better (or less bad) than you so you can't teach me anything. I need to make sure that isn't how I operate.

?

John 9:1-3

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life".

Was this man specifically born blind so that God's power should be shown? Or was the fact that he had been born blind used by God to show His power?

seeking

it's not necessarily a quick process getting into God's prescence. In the temple, you used to pass through various courts, gates etc before you (or the priest) made it to the place where God's prescence rested.

I try to rush it too often. I need to recognise it as a process and be patient.

Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.


That's the first part of the process. Instead of just asking god for stuff straight away or anything else like that, it needs to start with thanksgiving and praise. I need to approach God by recognising who He is, what He's done and how much He deserves my worship.