emccoy

Our pride and selfishness make submission so difficult. We want to make sure we are heard or understood; we want what we want when we want it; and we pretty much want it our way. For these reasons, it makes submission really hard and when we do it, it is is uncomfrotable. Until we can die to our own desires and put the needs and desires of someone else before our own, then submission continues to be a difficult road. It is wrong for a Christian to submit when it means a sin must be committed before God. Our primary responsible is to our Lord Jesus Christ, then to our husbands.

God expects us to do a good job no matter what the job is or who the employer is. By respecting and submitting to our employers, I guess it is understood that we must also fulfill our requirements in our work. We dishonor God by doing anything less. I really never thought of submitting in these terms. This is a good reminder of what God requires and expects from us.

The way we portray ourselves is how others view God. It has been said that the only Christ that people may see is in a Christian. Therefore, it is imperative that we represent God well in our behaviors. We need to be submissive in order to demonstrate our love for Christ. When we get rebellious we show that we are no different than the world. If people ask why they should come to Christ, what response can we give when our lives are out of order? I think of our own children. If they leave the house and are unruly and disobedient at someone else's house,then naturally people will assume that they are being raised a certain way. Ultimately, it is a reflection of the home---of the parents. This is the same that is true for our behaviors and the reflection it has on God.

Have you ever felt you were of no worth or of no value? What does 1 Peter 1:18-19 say about your worth? What does it say about God's love for you? What does it indicate about the long-term value of your balance sheet and financial assets? What are your true long-term investments? Why? There have been times when I have felt worthless or feeling unvalued. However, Peter 1:18-19 says that I am worth more than any money on Earth. For Christ paid for my sins with HIS LIFE!!! He was blameless, but took my sins to the cross!!! Praise God!!! This says that God's love is completly unconditional, endless, and does not depend on me!! The long term value of my financial assets are worthless. They can't go with me and they can't buy my way into heaven. My true long term investments are the people that I show love, mercy, and grace to. The way that I show Christ to others is an investment. The only thing that can go with me are others who are also in Christ.

I think that people in our culture are so quick to judge others and critisize others, but never want the light shone on our own ugliness. We take offense when others appear to be watching us. Being in the spot light is never a good feeling because you are subject to the opinions and criticisms of others. But ultimately, if you attempt to live righteously, then it shouldn't matter. Final judgement ultimately is the time when we have to own our wrongs. God loves us so He continues to show us grace and mercy, however He also gave us free will. We keep making our own choices, often out of His will. In the same way that we ultimately hold our children accountable for their behaviors, God also holds us accountable. This should be at the core because it should remind us that our actions will ultimately be judged by God. We can please the world if we chose to, but God is ultimately going to be the final judger. It should help us try to stay on the straight and narrow and help curb our selfish desires. When it is left out, we may feed our pride and selfish desires endlessly instead of looking to please God.

I would define holy as being clean, free from fault, upright. The ways of Jesus are what define Holy. I would say that by giving my life to Christ, I have been made holy. He released me from the bondage of lots of things that I no longer even consider. I also can see and hear things that I once heard or saw and I am not mortified by it. It takes obedience to God's word to become holy. We read lots of things the word to help us in our daily living and help to sanctify us. However, the head knowledge is no good. Obedience is required and commanded. My biggest struggly with holiness is breaking old habits and especially when your growth is not the same (or on the same rate) as your spouse. Therefore, certain behaviors, reactions, and attitudes still rear their ugly head. I think not taking offense and responding with love no matter what is the most difficult thing for me.

The picture set forth in Revelations should make it incumbant on everyone to make salvation and faith in Christ a priority. Christ's coming means that our hearts will be revealed. It won't be about what we say, but about what we truly believe in our hearts. That should get our undivided attention. Those who are truly His will be called, while others will become the devil's. Being saved and taken to be with the Lord eternally should inspire hope. It should be a reminder that the circumstances that we live in here, no matter how bad, are only temporary. Our eternal life promises to be an awesome one. It should inspire self-control and soberness because it is our responsibility to get our Christian walk straight before Christ comes. Everyone must first give their lives to Christ, then it is our requirement to live by the commands that the Lord has given us. This requires self control and soberness. When we don't really expect Christ, we get lazy, begin to live in the world, and not truly take our faith as seriously as we should. We don't talk to others about the Good News the way we should, we don't minister to others as we should; in general we become lazy Christians.

The basis of our joy is the love that we have for Christ and for the salvation that we have been given. This joy is not related to our emotions, per se because our emotions are typically run by our circumstances. Our emotions are externally driven (circumstances) and so is happiness. Whereas, joy is internally driven. It should be based on the fact that we have been redeemed and saved. It should be based on the fact that God loves us no matter what. These are all internal and never changing. On the otherhand, our circumstances are forever changing, thus our emotions tend to be as well. From day to day, things are going to happen---you may be fyired from your job, or given bad news, or a spouse may upset you, etc. Those things are drive one set of emotions. Within 24 hours, you may learn that you have a job promotion, receive a bonus check, be told that you are loved by your spouse--resulting from a different set of emotions. The point is that emotions are temporary--happiness is temporary. They are both driven by external circumstances. Joy is eternal and internal. Joy should be obvious no matter what the external circumstances are.

God has used many circumstances to refine and purify my faith, but the one that stands out the most was done through my job. I was promoted to a principal unexpectedly 3 years ago. I was at first very excited about the position, but quickly realized that this was no easy job (not that I expected it to be). Without sharing all of my experiences, I can definitely say that God used this opportunity to bring me to my knees, on many occassions! There were times when I realized that I had no one to vent to, count on, or share with (at least no one that I could trust) except for the Lord! I had never been in a situation where I felt disliked, talked about, critisized, overwhelmed---all at the same time. I usually give my job my everything--well I came to literally hate it! God beat a lot of stuff out of me in the 2 years that I was in the position. He brought me much closer to Him; taught me how to pray; made me realize how I had been allowing my job to be my god. He taught me a lot about Him and even more about myself. He losed the chains of pride and the need to be liked by others. He also showed me the importance of my family and how I had not been focused on them the way I should have been--my 1st ministry was definitely not being treated as such. Geniune, tested faith, brings glory to Jesus because He is able to show himself strong when we are reduced. Also others can truly see the work that God can do when a believer is tested and when the believer truly allows God to do His work in them.

This is an interesting and very thought provoking question. Here is my stab at it: Faith and obedience come together because they are cyclical. In order to have faith, you must first be obedient to God by giving your heart to him (becoming saved). By the same token, you cannot demonstrate obedience without first having faith. To whom would you be obedient to if you do not have faith in Him? So, I guess which came first--- the chicken or the egg? The next question is pretty tough, but maybe overly simple at the same time. We are saved by grace because quite simply God's grace (allowing us to live day by day even in our sin; loving us unconditionally even in our sin, etc) allows us to become saved. Not a single soul on this earth deserves to be saved and no amount works can measure up to the love that God has for us. Due to our sinful nature and God's unconditional loving nature, it would only be by grace that we could be saved and never by works. Did I already say that there could never be enough works to cover our sins---only the blood of Jesus (who never sinned) could cover our sins-- and only God's grace would allow us to be covered by His blood.

I would call this having "one foot in and one foot out". Another way that I think of it is that you are riding the fence of Christianity. When we hold on to this present place as our homeland, then we begin to focus on the ways of the world (money, material things, etc). We forget that EVERYTHING belongs to the Lord our God, EVERYTHING== including our children, homes, etc. I have definitely caught myself doing this, specifically when I think of (God forbid), losing everything that I have. It is so easy to forget that this place is temporary and while we are called to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ, work, educate our children, etc, while we are here; it is very easy to get caught up in all that and forget that it is all being done for the Lord and not for ourselves. I think that in some people's situations a tragedy has to happen to get priorities straight. But for me, usually hearing the Word of God reminds me of what my priorities are. I frequently have to ask God to set my priorities straight as I can get off track way too easily.