Impressions

I read a quote today it said: We need to be more concerned about what God thinks about us than others.

How many of us worry about what others think of us more than what God thinks? I think it is easy to think about people am I doing my job the way that the boss wants me to, or am I slacking off, but maybe it is how I look at it. Do I not need to be so caught up in the fleshly desires to please people rather than doing my job to please God. See people are fickle, they change and what we do one minute may not be the right thing to do the next minute. Look at fashions, they are always changing, if I was so worried about what I was wearing to please others, than I would be lost in the idol of living up to what other peoples standards are.

God says do things in order to please Him, to bring Him honor. Can you imagine if we change our view point from pleasing others to pleasing God. In pleasing God we will change how we think, it will no longer be about what Joe (fictitious person) thinks of me, but what God thinks of me. I wont worry if I say something right or wrong, because my wording will be that which will bring glory to my Father in Heaven.

This can be applied to every aspect of life, it isn't that I am doing what is right, that I am doing it to bring glory to God. Just think about marriage for a minute, in Ephesians 5:21 "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." We don't do it because it comes easy, we do it to bring honor to Christ, because we love Jesus Christ so much, we want to bring Him honor. We can read through the Bible to see other area's this applies to as well and we will see that it comes down to who we want to please more, others, self or God.

God's grace is not a license for me to commit wrong, it is a license saying that yes He loves me so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross so that I can live in forgiveness and live it fully and that by doing it fully I am honoring Jesus Christ with my actions, with my words and my thoughts. His grace is sufficient for me, but when I spit in His face by doing the very thing He has directed me not to do, it breaks His heart. Just think when someone does something that hurts you, how do you feel? That is how Jesus feels every time we go against His teachings, in Ephesians 4:30 it says "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Do you think that when I want to please others more than I want to please God that it grieves the Holy Spirit who resides in me? I do, I believe that the Holy Spirits voice will grow fainter and harder to hear every time I grieve Him. It is when I humble myself and pray for forgiveness and turn from my wicked ways, that the voice becomes louder, but I must turn, not do a 360, but do a 180 and run from the wickedness that I have asked for Jesus to forgive me from. Asking forgiveness is not a one time thing, but an every time I sin thing. I must be willing to repent, to turn and to except His forgiveness.

We are called to love Him more than anything else, but when I do things to please others, I am not doing it to please God, I am saying what others think is more important than what God thinks. Today are you doing things to bring God honor? Are you more worried about what others think or what God thinks?

Blaming

I was thinking this morning about blame. If I am an alcoholic and I blame it on other people, my situation, or even my parents or grandparents, I will not get to the issue. Until I am willing to look at myself will there be any help that comes to me. I have heard many people blame other people for their actions, instead of looking at themselves.

It is so much easier to say I did it because the devil made me do it, instead of actually saying I did it and I was wrong. When I take the responsibility for my actions, I want to change, but until I am willing to say it was my fault, I was wrong and I am sorry, will you forgive me, then nothing will change. In Proverbs 28:13-14 it talks about this very thing
"13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, 
but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
14 Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, 
but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble."

There is a 3 step to take when we have done something to hurt someone.

1. Admitting saying what I did wrong. It is taking responsibility for my actions, it is saying I was wrong to have hurt you, or to have treated you this way, or even what the alcoholics have to do, Hi my name is XXXX and I am an alcoholic. It is them admitting what they are that starts the change process.
2. Than saying I am sorry, that is a hard thing to have to do, because it takes responsibility to a whole new level, because being sorry, means I am going to do what it takes to not do it again. 
3. Will you forgive me? That is a hard thing to say, because it throws myself on the mercy of the other person, admitting, taking responsibility and then asking forgiveness for my actions. This means that I am going to do what I can to make sure that I don't do it again, it means taking the steps to ensure that it is over and I need to do what it takes to let it go.

All of this is possible, but as soon as you blame your actions on someone else, it is no longer possible to be sincere when asking the above 3. If I say I was wrong, but it is because you made me angry and that is why I said those mean things. I blamed my actions on you, not taking responsiblity for my words that hurt.

Isn't it time that we stop putting blame on others and start looking at ourselves to see the wrongs we are committing, isn't it time that we are adults and take the steps it takes to admit our faults. We are to be examples to others, but when we blame others for our actions, we are saying that we have no choice, that we can be anyway we want to be, because that is just how it goes. We have a choice to act, to be a certain way. When we stop blaming it on others, we start taking action to be who God calls us to be.

In the Bible it talks about blaming others. In Romans 2:1 it says "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."