I will talk about what I know, what I have witnessed, what I have done.
First our walk with Jesus Christ, when you first get saved, you are on fire, you want to do things for Christ. Soon that fire is dimmed with something else that comes along, that offers to bring happiness, the same way you once thought about your relationship with Jesus Christ. You chose to put other things first, soon those other things extinguish the fire that you once had. It becomes a chore to even focus on our walk with Christ, because it takes work, it is hard to keep our focus solely on Him. It was once much easier, because that is all we wanted to think about. Soon our bible reading slows, our prayer life becomes weak and we give into the fading. It is a slow fade, but if we are not careful it takes over. Getting back to where we once were becomes work, it is hard to get to that point again. Maybe it doesn't have to be that hard, but the more we allow the enemy to separate us from God, the more difficult it becomes to get back to where God would have us.
This slow fade happens in relationships too. We start off completely devoted to making things work, to doing what it takes to show and demonstrate our love for the other. We buy them things, we send them cards, we write them e-mails and love notes, but soon that begins to fade. We allow the crutch of the world to get in the way, we allow other things to take priority over the very thing that God has given us and we circum to the fade. The fade happens slowly, it takes one thing to take our mind off of the other person, their needs, what they want and soon we replace our own feelings with forces such as work. We allow this fade to continue, it breaks marriage, it jeopardizes families, but all we see is the work it takes to get back to where we once were. We are focused on self, no longer is our focus on what makes the other person happy, but what makes me happy. It is easy to put other things that take less work to make us happy, instead of doing the work it takes to make the person we are in a relationship happy.
This problem continues to infect most everything we touch. We continue to want to do what is the easiest, to do what is the best for "me", instead of wanting to do what is right for God, for our spouse, for our kids. Isn't it time that we start allowing God to show us what we need to change in ourselves to serve Him better, to serve others better, to love His way, were it is not about "me" or "my way", but about Him?
I have seen it, experienced it and know it is true, people want to feel like they belong, that they are special, that they are loved. When we start putting ourselves before those people, we stop loving them as Christ loves them and we start putting ourselves first.
All of this takes work. A mountain will not climb itself and God wants us to climb, to do what it takes to have a personal relationship with Him, to have our marriages work, to have a families work. No longer can it be about what "I" want. If you don't know where to start, start by committing time to prayer, ask God what He wants and then commit time to listen, silent and still before Him. Nothing else. You marriages, guess what change starts with you, if you want change in your marriage, your relationship, start allowing God to change you. It isn't easy to change, but God wants our best, our spouse wants our best, start making them your priority. Stop serving yourself and start serving them.
Time to give this epidemic a kick in the pants, no longer does it have to control our lives, allow God to control us, to change us and revive us. Start doing what it takes, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, because who knows if tomorrow will ever come. Time for change!!!
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