Honesty with God
Many of us know the story of Cain killing Abel due to jealousy and shame because Cain did not honor God with his sacrifices. Abel sacrificed his fattest portion to God and Cain sacrificed what fell on the ground. Now, in this time sacrifices were a part of the culture. When you sacrifice to God, it was not what you could muster up, but what was your fattest portion. That means, if you tended to trees and bushes that bore fruit, then you do not sacrifice what is rotted, you give what is the best in honor to God. Abel did that with his livestock. Cain brought forth sacrifices/fruits that fell to the ground. These fruits may be bruised and dirty and essentially not the best to bring forth to God to represent your thanks and sacrifice to Him.
Now, how does that play into your life? When you look at your relationship with God, what is it you are sacrificing? In other words, what are you hanging on to that God would rather have you sacrifice? Is it trust in Him? Is it tangible? Maybe it is money you are hanging on to. How is your tithing? Is your tithing based on a fear that you won't be able to survive?
The funny thing is, we are to trust in God and know that He will provide for us if we do what it is He wants us to do. If we just stay comfortable and make sure we are happy then we are missing out on truly giving up things for God. God doesn't want us to rely on the tangible, but know that He will provide for us. But we can't hold back from Him. We have to sacrifice.
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Showing posts with label honest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honest. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2016
Sunday, May 29, 2016
1 John 1: Fellowship and Confession
Fellowship and Confession
1 John 1:6 and 1 John 1:9 show us what it is to be honest about our fellowship with God. We can say we unite with God and walk with Him, but yet we live in darkness. Well, what does that mean? Living in darkness would be along the lines of 1) understanding what it means to be in unity with God and 2) actually doing it. If I meet someone and I say to them I am a manager of a job I have, knowing that manager is not in my job title or description, yet I give off the impression to others possibly to impress them that I am something that I am now, then I am lying. I might have similar responsibilities to a manager, but I am not the manager. So, when I say I walk with God and seek to be in unison with His will, someone would be able to see it by my actions and my words and compare them up against God's will. In addition, verse 9 isn't as deep with a diagnosis, yet it is just as important. Confession of sins is important as it shows us that our way of handling things, saying things, thinking and behaving isn't always in unison with God's will. Being in God's will is the focus. When we act outside of His will, we express selfishness and we sin. When we confess that we have sinned, we are admitting to God, "hey, I didn't get it right. I messed up, but I wanna be back in your good graces." When you can humble yourself and tell God that you want to try it again and get back on the right track, that shows God that we are willing to be humble and seek His ways over our own.
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1 John 1:6 and 1 John 1:9 show us what it is to be honest about our fellowship with God. We can say we unite with God and walk with Him, but yet we live in darkness. Well, what does that mean? Living in darkness would be along the lines of 1) understanding what it means to be in unity with God and 2) actually doing it. If I meet someone and I say to them I am a manager of a job I have, knowing that manager is not in my job title or description, yet I give off the impression to others possibly to impress them that I am something that I am now, then I am lying. I might have similar responsibilities to a manager, but I am not the manager. So, when I say I walk with God and seek to be in unison with His will, someone would be able to see it by my actions and my words and compare them up against God's will. In addition, verse 9 isn't as deep with a diagnosis, yet it is just as important. Confession of sins is important as it shows us that our way of handling things, saying things, thinking and behaving isn't always in unison with God's will. Being in God's will is the focus. When we act outside of His will, we express selfishness and we sin. When we confess that we have sinned, we are admitting to God, "hey, I didn't get it right. I messed up, but I wanna be back in your good graces." When you can humble yourself and tell God that you want to try it again and get back on the right track, that shows God that we are willing to be humble and seek His ways over our own.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
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