Living for More than Just Myself

Short thought of the day:

"Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge." 

Proverbs 14:26

Reading this verse during my devotions this morning brought something to mind. What if we were to live our lives while we are young for our kids in the future? So many parents find themselves in compromising or hypocritical situations when their past misdeeds come to the surface. Wouldn't the logical thing be to not do certain things so later on in life you won't regret it? Instead society pushed everyone to believe that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, with whomever they want and that's fine because that's what their heart desires.

"Wise people are careful and stay out of trouble, but fools are careless and quick to act." 

Proverbs 14:16

The Bible teaches something completely different. The Bible says that you are counted wise if you DON'T do everything that your flesh desires to do.

"Fools don't care is they sin, but honest people wok at being right." Proverbs 14:9

There actually are some things out there that God does NOT want us to try. Although it may not be mainstream to seek a pure and noble lifestyle, it's the wise thing to do.

So, for those of us without kids of our own yet, think of them and how our actions shape the type of life they will have. For each one of us, think about all of his children God has allowed to come into your life; our actions shape the type of life they live as well.

What habit should you quit for the sake of others?


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Let My Life Song Sing to....??

If there was a song composed about your life here on Earth, what would it be about?

....

    .....

         ......

Have your answer? Great. 

Now, recalling that good things glorify God and bad/sinful things glorify the Devil, who would your life song praise?

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:11-15

Our "lyrics" are written daily in the book of life. Unlike earthly songs, there is not bias or ulterior motive for its existence. The facts are there plain and simple.

On these old scales, it was easy to compare the weight of one item to another. The heavier the item, the further down it would fall. Let's say that the left one is all of the sin you allow to stay in your life. So it would make sense that those sins would have greater weight in your life right? If sin has a greater presence, then it will also take up most of the verses in our song. We may be able to deceive ourselves, by the scale never lies!

Christian band Casting Crowns composed a song entitled, Lifesong. Here is a snapshot of one of the verses:

Let my lifesong sing to you

Let my lifesong sing to you

I want to sign your name to the end of the day

Knowing that my heart was true

Let my lifesong sing to you

Our daily testimony should glorify God; not how we are on the fence or how we are trying to serve to masters. Yes, in the end it is the compilation of all of our testimonies into a song that will sing off of the pages of the book of life.

"For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for us the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10


What is your life song about?

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You are What You Eat

I believe that most of us have heard of the saying, "You are what you eat." The first time that I heard it, I was in elementary school. Back then my friends and I honestly believed that we would turn orange if we ate a ton of carrots. Now I understand that if I eat only sugary food, my body will perform based of all of the processed sugars I've ingested. Let's just say my performance would be pretty sad if all I ate was sugar.

If that saying is easy to grasp and believed my most human beings, how about applying that in a spiritual sense. If we only "consume" worldly things, then we shall become worldly. Seems simple enough right? Yes, however mix some denial in there and the outcome is too many Christian living today.

Whether or not we honestly believe that we can have our cake and eat it too, one thing that is certain is that one day we will have to explain our sweet tooth to our Heavenly Father.

"So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." Romans 14:12

"But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

For those lifestyle choices that we chose to call good evil and vice versa, God will ask us why? Standing before the Great I Am is not going to be the same as standing before our parents.

"As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'Everyone will bow before me; everyone will say that I am God." Romans 14:11

There will be no skirting around that fact in the end. That includes Atheists, Sikhs, Buddhists, Agnostics, Hindus, and any other world view or religion. EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever lived and will ever live will acknowledge God as God.

So, what I was reminded of this past weekend is that no matter what you decide to hold onto against God's will, it will not go unnoticed. That sin will arise again when the great Judge calls for you account for why you loved that sin more than you loved Him.


Will you chose God over the sins you struggle with?


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I Will Try vs. I Will Commit

This year of teaching has taught me a lot, but there are some lessons that I hope and pray that I will never forget.

One of those lessons has to do with the importance of making and keeping commitments. I have always been a proponent for just trying. As long as you were in the mindset of trying, I could work with that. I would expect a certain amount of effort and if you messed up, I would expect you to just get back up and try again. But then the Lord had me look into my "just try" philosophy.

The challenge: is just trying enough?

Answer: No.

After much encouragement, one of my most challenging students decided to give cooperation a second chance. He said that he would give it a try. The time came for him to try and he did, however he messed up and gave up. We talked about it the situation and he decided to try again. The same results as before occurred: he messed up and gave up on trying. It just didn't seem to work. Just trying did not seem to be enough. I found myself doubting his willingness. Good thing God stepping in to clarify.

It was not my place to judge the willingness of the child, instead I needed to raise the bar. There had to be a way to encourage trying no matter how many times you fall down. Dun, dun, dun.... COMMITMENT TIME! The Lord spoke loud and clear and it made sense.

If I say that I will try to do better, once I give it a try I kept my word. I can choose to try again but at the end of the day, I have already tried. Then there is the commitment. If I say I will commit to doing better and I mess up, then I try again. Why? Because I am in it for the long hall. I will not STOP trying till I am actually doing better.

Now it MADE SENSE!

Commitments are not foreign concepts to us. The most commonly heard of commitment is marriage. If the couple gets into a fight, they do not part ways and get a divorce; they will stick it out through thick and thin--ups and downs.

I have committed to a relationship with my Lord and Savior and He has made a commitment to me. The beauty is that He has promised to "never leave you, nor forsake you." His desire to be with me has been around longer than I will ever understand. Jesus is the one we should look to on how to stay dedicated with others and himself. When we see how he dealt with David, you see how he never let go. He was kind, patient, gentle, faithful and brought joy to David's life. But it did not end there. God also was stern and kept him accountable. With all that He brings to the relationship, there is any wonder how we could misunderstand his intentions. He stays close by and His love never fails.

So, if I desire to teach my students to stay committed to changing and healing, I have to understand what it means to keep a commitment. As I study the Lord's tracks and have my own experiences, I will gain further understanding, but for now I have learned a lot. I see that you must start by saying that you are going to do more than try, you will make a commitment. Then try again. How? By first increasing your commitment to God. By being kind as God is kind. By being patient as God is patient. By being gentle as God is gentle. By being faithful as God is faithful. By keeping others accountable and God keeps us accountable. Ultimately showing love as God is love. When your relationship with God is deep, your strength to run life's race and never drop out will never wane. Then, use the strength given from God to keep pushing forward. Just keep swimming.

Commit.

So commitment is more than a simple concept or desire, it is a principle we must all live by. So I urge you to do more than just say you will try, say you WILL COMMIT.

~Shana

The Student Keeping the Teacher Accountable

Today, while talking to one of my students, I recalled a time when he was disrespectful to me in class.
It was only yesterday, so it was fresh on the mind. After going back and forth about what really happened, he began to share why he acted so rudely. “I knew you would ask about it. I needed to be held accountable.”

Wow. I needed to be held accountable. That is a very powerful statement to come from the mouth of a 16-year-old struggling with defiance. At that moment, God has helped him to articulate that being held accountable was something to be valued.

I was so shocked at the statement that I instantly performed some introspection. How willing am I to be held accountable?

Also today, a friend of mine vented about one of her coworkers that was not open to being held accountable. She rehashed many memories of frustrating scenarios and impact it left on her. It was hard to see her hurting, but at the same time it made me think. Why do we as adults reject accountability so often? When we see that spirit in children, we instantly know how to diagnose that child; but we do not perform the doctor role when the patient is ourselves.

Lord, this is definitely one of the reasons your Word tells us to possess a humble spirit. When we are filled with pride, it is close to impossible for us to grow. Why? Because we are not doing anything that warrants a change. How sad.

So, despite my title of teacher, without my student’s knowledge, he taught me a refresher lesson on being humble. If I critique others for being difficult with God, then I must not refuse to surrender my weakness to God and take his help—whatever form it comes in.