As I started to write this today, I learned an important fact, that putting I before someone else in a sentence is not actually a grammatical error, it is an English grammar etiquette to use the other person first, because it is polite.
In Philippians 2:3 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves," It isn't just an English grammar idea about being polite, it is God's idea about being unselfish, it is putting others before ourselves, this is true in every area of life, when we make life about self, it is no longer about God.
When I hold the door open for someone, it is allowing that person to go first, it isn't just a polite thing to do, it is a Godly action that shows that no longer is about I, but Christ in me. Jesus said in Matthew 15:18 "But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them." When I use statements that are not polite, those things are actually coming from my heart. If I constantly put myself first, that is a heart issue, because I am making it about me.
The Bible has warned us over and over again about how we need to put others first. The instructions are there for us to follow, the guides, the way, but we must walk in it. The verse in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." And in
1 Corinthians 16:14 "Do everything in love." God is defined as love, so am I doing everything with God? 1 John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Can you imagine what a life changer it would be to start following what God has said in the Bible? Can you imagine the change in your marriages, your home, your work, your life, because no longer would it be about I, but Christ who lives in me. What a change.
That is God's call on our lives, He has written out His instructions, I just need to chose to follow them, not because they are a list of right and wrongs, but because it honors God above everything else to put Him first. It is easy to think of being a Christian is based on a list, but if I do things out of love, I am no longer basing them on myself, but on Christ who lives in me, my Christian walk will be about Christ and it will be displayed by me surrendering all to Him and that is even my way and will. When I make life about self, I go against what God wants life to be about. Are you struggling today? Are you making life about self or about God? Who's strength are you walking in?
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