 Praise the Lord we are still standing! For the past several months I've been growing in grace with an amazing group of women. Our journey has taken us through a spiritual warfare study. It was not the typical Ephesians 6:10, put on the whole armor lesson; instead, we learned to wage war daily against the ungodly attitudes that rise up in us. Whew, this has been a challenging and convicting leg of the journey. Our study concluding in Matthew 5, The Beatitudes.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying...blessed are... ( Matt 5:1-2). At this point in His ministry, Jesus had reached the pinnacle of His popularity. The setting for the sermon On The Mount is a hillside near Capernaum, and took place over a course of several days in front of a growing crowd. So as Jesus started His discourse, He began to describe the characteristics of people who belong to the kingdom of heaven, answering the question who on earth are we? Or better yet, Who are earth should we be? It is clear to me that if today Jesus were to post the Beatitudes on Instagram and FB, the likes would be few and the follows even less. But we should not be surprised because, Jesus was radical in His thinking. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts - Is 55:8-9. He makes it clear that as believers who we should be on earth are not people whose primary pursuit is power, popularity, prominence, or prosperity. The blessed life He describes has nothing at all to do with any of the aforementioned things. This blessed life He describes is a spiritual state of being filled with such an abundance of joy, peace, comfort and intimacy with Him it surpasses what was normally attributed to any human experience. Interested in living that kind of blessed life? Journey with us over the course of the next few posts to discover, how to live that blessed life and to discover who on earth we should be as we examine the Beatitudes. desiring to live the blessed life, Diane  Just For His Glory Welcome back. Just joining the journey? Check the June 2014 post to catch up. Committed to the journey, but have not subscribed yet? Subscribe to keep pace. My desire and intent is to post weekly.
So why the journey? This Living just for His Glory journey has to do with one thing-Purpose. Purpose is a word we hear all the time, often in connection with the word destiny. Statements like: "I was born for this purpose, this is my destiny "...or "I don't know my purpose...", are familiar, if not personal to us all. Purpose is simply the reason for something or someone's existence. Destiny is the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of actions. We are on this journey because we were created by the Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory (Even every one that is called by name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea I have made him. - Is 43:7) and (Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God - I Cor 10:31). The real purpose for our lives is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. I am still in the process of learning how to live this purpose out in my daily life, that's why the journey. Learning to live just for His glory is a lifelong process. We are inclined to attach our purpose to what we do rather than who we are. The Lord is first and foremost concerned with who we are (our character). (For whom He did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren - Rom 8:29). Our destiny is be like Jesus, and God the Father is committed to do whatever is necessary to make us look like Him! What we do ( our works) should be motivated by and an outcome of who we are. Living just for His glory is learning what it really means for it " to not be about us but to be about Him ". Even as we take the tenth selfie of the day, Living just for His glory is the process of learning how to make Him the subject of the portrait, and us and all our stuff the background. Radical, I know, right? Still committed? I hope so. Privileged to be on the journey with you, Diane P.S. The next time you go to Church, and do I hope that means Sunday, but that's another post on another day, try this: Put all your attention on lifting up Jesus (worship), don't focus what you like or don't about your hair, wear, don't even focus on your cares. From the time you step into the House make it about Him. Try to even to resist the temptation to read the text that comes while you have the Bible App open. It's been about us all week, let's make Worship about Him! |
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