“ I will run, I will run this race,
And I will do it all for love,
Your love compels me forward,
Your love controls my heart,
And I just cannot get away.
So I will fight this good fight of faith,
And I will do it all for love.
You are my great reward,
You're so worth fighting for
And I can't wait to see Your face."
I recently stumbled across this sweet song and it really stirred my thoughts. I began to reflected on my life and how many times I have tired to run this race alone. Many times, when I become overwhelmingly busy with the task of life, I set aside precious time with my Heavenly Father, in order to complete them. In just a short amount of time, it becomes so easy to lose my sight on the reason I am here. Yes, it is important to take care of the task we have set before us in this life, we read in Gen. 12:5 that God put Adam in the garden of Eden "to dress it and keep it". We also read in Pro. 31:27 that the virtuous woman, "looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness", but who gives us the ability to complete these task? God. I know personally when I forgot where my strength comes from, I than began seeking out strength in myself, thinking ‘I can handle this!” and allowing my emotions and flesh to lead me. This weak source only leads me to selfish desires and causes me to forget the reason I am here; to glorify, honor, and praise God. How? Through selfless love and always looking to serve others and put their needs before my own. I need to constantly be reminding my self that everything in this world is TEMPORAL.
What really matters? Why am I here? To keep God’s commandments until He comes back or I meet Him in heaven. Daily, I have to pick up my cross and follow Him, Secondly, it is not about me. The root of sin is pride and selfishness, it’s not what can I get out off this life but what can I give in this life to please my heavenly Father and show gratitude for what His precious Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, died for. Each day in this life, I should wake up remembering, He died for me.
I love to think on Micah 6:8..”what doeth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” So when I begin to think again, “I can do this!”, that’s when I need to stop, pick up God’s living Word and let His spirit lead me back to the path of righteousness.
Below is a short list of what I wrote in my journal a couple of weeks ago to keep me from straying. Especially during this time of my life in college, when it’s so easy to let my flesh take over me. May it be a humbling reminder for me and I pray, an encouragement to others.
1. Set your mind on eternity. The moment I take my eyes off this, I instantly become discontent.
"If ye then be risen in Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right had of God. Set your affections on things above not on things of the earth." - Colossians 3:1-2
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18
2. Serve for God, not man or self. everything I do here on earth should be for God and His glory.
"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
- Galatians 1:10
"Not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men."
- Ephesians 6:6-7
3. Serve others with gladness. Be excited when the Lord gives you opportunities to show your love for Him, by serving others. Be looking for ways to serve and follow in Christ foots steps, as the name Christian states; Christ-like.
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." - Philippians 2:3-4
"Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing." - Psalm 100:2
4. Take advantage of every minute, “redeeming the time, for the days are evil”. Serve God every minute of the day and don’t take your eyes off Jesus. Reminding yourself, this world is temporal and everything in it will vanish. Don’t set your heart on possessions, but on Words, God’s Words, in His love letter to us, because we truly will live happily ever after with it. - Ephesians 5
5. Don’t over-think but over-pray. Which I don’t think we can ever over-pray. Remember, “..the prayer of the upright is His delight.” Pro. 15:8. If you fall, confess your sin to God and ask Him to guide you back to His Truths and Way. I know He will, if you're seeking to walk humbly with Him.
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 3:13-14
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4:6-7
6. Remember, God’s Word is ALIVE. As you read it with humility, God’s spirit will change your desires to His desires, so read it daily and constantly, especially when Satan whispers lies to you and your flesh takes lead.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." -Hebrews 4:12
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