Tag: Life

Knowing me

Most of us go through life detached from the most important person in our lives.  We wander though life never getting in touch with the one who can make the biggest impact on us.  We accept whatever comes our way and miss out on a passionate existence, and usually blame the world around us for what we see is wrong.  We miss out completely with connecting with ourselves.

A friend once asked me “What are you passionate about?”  It was a question I couldn’t answer.  I had never got into the habit of looking within and learning what was going on inside.  Life was full of external stimuli and little inside understanding.  Life was happening to me, instead of me taking life for all it was worth.  And when I talk with people, most times they have the same responses.  They don’t often know what is inside.

know yourselfFor many years I never came to understand who I was.  And missed out on some great understandings of me, and great experiences which I could have seized on if I truly understood me.  So I started a journey of self-discovery.  Because I am worth knowing and if I don’t know myself, I cannot expect anyone else to be willing to either.  Without knowing yourself you cannot value yourself.  And if you don’t value yourself, no one else will either.

The struggle to know oneself is a difficult path, but one that leads to rich rewards.  Your relationships get better, because they are no longer based on circumstances but on who we are.  Conversations can go much deeper because we have evaluated what we think, and why.  We have also evaluated what we feel and why, so then instead of exploding at random events when everything comes to a head, or blowing up at family after a few hard days, we can begin to see things in a different light, and respond appropriately.

The journey begins by taking a look under our hood and determining what is there.  For many people this will be a hard thing to do, because many don’t really like what they see.  But as we do this we begin to see past the grease and the oil, and we see past the damaged areas, and we see things that are actually worthwhile.  There is great value and priceless treasure inside each one of us, and unless we are willing to take a hard honest look inside, and get past the things we don’t like, we will never become who we were meant to be.

Jesus said to “…love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.” Mark 12:31 (Voice)  When we look around us at the world we live in very few people actually love themselves.  This is evidenced by the way they treat the world around them.  If we don’t love ourselves, we have nothing to offer others, and we treat them the same way we feel would treat us.  You cannot love yourself without knowing yourself.  And others cannot know you either if you don’t know you.  And the world is crying out for relationships that matter.  We are fed up with the empty social world, and are hungry for something deeper.  And it begins by me knowing me.

know yourself quotes

Who do you follow?

Follow-Me-To-photography-by-Murad-Osmann-Barcelona-550x410It was a question that was asked of me many years ago.  And there are as many answers as there are people.  It is something we all need to look at for ourselves, because we all follow someone in our lives.  We have someone we see as important, and we look to them for inspiration, even if they don’t know we exist.  Just based on the ratings there are many people in North America at least, who spend a great deal of time “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”  Who you choose to follow will make a large impact on your life, and on the lives of those who may choose to follow you.

The reasons we choose to follow someone often are because we see something in them we want to have.  Or we admire a character quality or an ability they exhibit.  Or they have a way of understanding the world around them that we admire.  They can be someone who can teach and input into our lives, or they can be someone we admire from afar who can be a role model for us.

We live in a world which is largely lacking in good role models.  There was a time where people of great character were looked up to.  When integrity and honesty were admiral qualities to have.  A time where we saw people who stood up against the wrongs in our society and spoke of greater values.  People like Gandhi, and Mother Teresa.  Others like Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King.  Great men and women who made great contributions to our world.

As Christians we have the opportunity to follow one of the greatest people in history.  A man who stood up for some of the greatest values we still see as important.  A man who impacted the world, and who is still affecting lives and conversations 2000 years later.  And on top of the opportunity to follow Him, we have His personal promise that He will be directly and intimately involved in our lives.

Who do you follow?  The choice is not if you follow someone, but who you follow.  A better question may be to ask is are they worth following?

Transformed? pt 2

transformedTransformation is a part of our Christian walk.  It is something that happens from the day that we give our lives to Christ, and continues on until the life of Christ is reflected through us.  Which is something we as Christians see little of.  There is more of the world in most of us than the life of Christ.

When we look at changing our lives we as Christians often make one of two mistakes.  The first is we try to do the work ourselves.  All of us have heard sermons about the need for our lives to be different in one way or another.  “We need to get the sin out of the camp” was a popular topic and phrase when I was growing up.  There are sermons upon sermons which talk about behaviors we have that we shouldn’t, and having behaviors that we cannot seem to have.

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:8 “ Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk.” NLV  And we push hard to change, which lasts for a little while and then the old behaviors start again and discouragement settles in and the desire to change dissipates.  And we have hard working people striving to become better and who usually end up being bitter and judgmental and demanding of changes in others they were not able to make themselves.

The second mistake we make is that all the changes in our lives are God’s doing.  And while some of this is true it also falls on us to make the changes.  If we simply wait for God to change us we will again be disappointed and become disillusioned with God and Christianity.  In the above verse it states that we  need to put these things out of your life.

Change begins in our lives when we choose to submit to God and allow Him to take charge of our lives.  Without this first level of submission and commitment nothing else happens.  As we accept the work of God in us and choose to submit to His reign over us as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:16 “Live as servants owned by God at all times. ” NLV.   In fact several of the apostles in scripture wrote much the same as James did “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” James 1:1 HCSB

Once we actually stop trying to live our lives our way and we come to submit to the authority and leadership of God the changes in our lives can begin and the grace of God can do it’s job in us.  And God can speak to us about the changes we need to make, and then we can decide to put off anger and all the other things God talks to us about and as we decide to obey the power of God enables the change to happen in our lives.  And the life of Christ deepens and grows within us.  But it all starts with submission.  As we choose to release our lives to His control all that we desire to see happen in our lives begins to happen, and the effort and the struggle get replaced with the power and presence of our God.