Thanks for sharing Mark Liberto (ZCC) The one major thing that I realized whenever I began following Christ was that I, whether I liked it or not, was a selfish, sinful man. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives” (James 4:3). That was me. I may have worked hard, I may have listened, but my motives were all sorts of messed up. Whether it was earthly or hedonistic desires, I never gave without expectation of reciprocation, without the idea of, “I’m such a great guy because I helped that person out, therefore I deserve x,y,z, etc…” How foolish of me! I look back and shutter that I had the audacity to act that way sometimes, and I thank Christ every day for all of the amazing things He, and He alone, has done with me. Selfishness, pride, egotistical, and more-- they would sit inside me and eat away. No matter what I did, I’d always feel unsatisfied in the end, even if I received back, because I only wanted more. It was darkness. But that was until I realized that what I needed wasn’t earthly at all, what I needed was Christ. This idea of living my life without selfish expectation made me new in Christ. As I think about living in the moment, I can’t help but connect James 4:13 to James 4:6: “God opposes the crowd but gives grace to the humble.” These are such simple words that connect with the idea that we first must humble ourselves before we can live in the moment with Christ and follow His will, not our own. It’s a struggle in today’s fast paced, egocentric, me, me, me world not to become of the mindset of what I just described and how I fully used to be. But there are a lot of struggles in the world that are easily accomplishable whenever God is on your side. I’m someone who will tell you any day that God’s Grace did wonders with me, because anything I am today is because of Him. I’ve seen what happens in my life whenever I’m in control, and it’s nothing good. That’s why the only pride I have is for what He’s done, and because of Him, He’s changed me into more of a man than I could have ever imagined or defined within today’s culture. He’s blessed me with a variety of places to serve, whether it is work, family, or personal. And you know what; I don’t want anything else. Some of my happiest moments of the week are whenever I see the impact Christ has played in my family. Whether it is in the form of getting to talk to my nephew and niece about Him, or encouraging my mother to pray, He’s done miracles, every day, and I am more than fully satisfied with that blessing alone.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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