Judging, Reproving, Witnessing

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Judging.

Reproving.

Witnessing.

Our Savior wants us to comprehend where we are in this grand scheme of life.

Are we to judge?

Judge not lest we be judge. How we judge we will be judged.

Are we to reprove?

Take the BEAM (the great faults) out of our own eyes before we dare to take the MOTES (any little fault, even the littlest of faults) out of the eyes of others.

Are we to witness and if so, to who do we witness?

Give NOT that which is holy to those who are unreceptive, unhearing, hardened of heart.

How do we know who is unreceptive unless we first give an opportunity to receive?

How do we know who will hear unless we first give them a chance to listen?

How do we know who has hardened their hearts unless we know them?

Seriously, how do we know who is a dog, or a swine?  These are incredibly pointed descriptions of people and aren't we making judgments when we label someone a 'dog' or a 'swine'? At what point do those labels apply? 

You've heard of numerous situations where 'religious' people badger others constantly. Relatives and friends, as well as strangers, who are forever bashing their religion over the heads of all they meet, and they do so because in their minds they are witnessing.  As relatives and friends of people of this sort they are tolerated, but by a lot of people they are not. They are avoided if possible because  they are trying to force something upon those who are unreceptive.  Does this mean we shouldn't witness once the message has been rejected? It means our witness must be our life, not our words.

Our LIVES are a witness.

If we are LIVING as our SAVIOR is teaching us to live in HIS love, loving others, our lives will reflect that LOVE, it won't be able to be different. You can't hide this love, it's something that cannot be hidden.  God's love in us will shine through in all we do.

When we are called to witness to others and actually preach the word of God, the message of the Kingdom of Heaven, Salvation in Jesus Christ, then we must witness and if the reception of our witnessing is rejected we are NOT to continue to preach to those unwilling to listen. If we choose to keep up this preaching to those that CLEARLY do not want to hear the word of God then we can expect that our words will be trampled upon and they will rend us (physically, mentally, emotionally).  We are NOT to force others to listen, to believe. When we use force or even try to use any sort of force then we are not living the love of CHRIST, He who would NEVER use force.

Christ Himself remained silent many times. Christ Himself would say what needed to be said, but He did NOT fight with others and force His message on them. Should we EVER try to force the Lord's truth on anyone, ever?!  NO!

Christ is our example and He would never want us to force the word of the kingdom of heaven upon anyone.  When someone absolutely does NOT want to hear the word of God we are NOT to give it to them.

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.

Cast not our pearls before swine.

The dogs and the swine are those who just like the animals unable to comprehend truth, only it is by their own choice, not because they were created that way.

If we give holy things to dogs, or pearls to swine it means NOTHING to them, nothing at all it is wasted.  If we spend our time wasting God's holy things and the pearls of wisdom we are given by the grace of God, then we are accountable for choosing to waste that time when God clearly would rather we move on or even remain silent.

All by HIS grace may we listen to Him and do only that which is good in His eyes. All in HIS righteousness, none in ours, for ours is as filthy rags.

Finding faults in others reveal greater faults in ourselves

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

And we continue being taught by our Savior.

How incredibly easy it is for us to look at the faults in others. How easy it is to gossip, to say things like- "I'd never do that."  "I'm glad I'm not like that." "They've got problems."  We say this sort of thing all the time. We see so clearly what we imagine to be faults in others lives but our own lives we'd much rather not examine too closely.

How dare we imagine that we would not do the very same thing another person is doing, were we walking in their shoes.

We are such different people. Every single one of us is different from the other with NO TWO people exactly alike.  We have numerous commonalities but we are NEVER the same, never.

Two people in the exact same situation can, and often do, react completely different to that situation.

My mindset is different from everyone else. We can agree on a lot of things, but we will never agree on everything.  The audacity of anyone to presume they would do BETTER in a situation another isn't doing so well at, is arrogance at its worst. Sure, it might be true, but to belittle anyone is wrong. When we tell someone that we could do something better, we are telling them they have failed to do the job as well as it could be done.  Too many people some how believe they are HELPING others when in truth they are just bringing others down to pat themselves on their back.

We aren't supposed to examine others but ourselves.

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

1Co_11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

This of course goes along with JUDGING NOT.

We just need to STOP looking at the faults of others while refusing to look at our own.

If we do want to take another's faults to task, first we have to take our own to task.  If we can RID ourselves of all our faults, THEN and ONLY THEN do we have the right to point out the faults of others.

We truly are hypocrites when we go after the faults of others while ignoring our own.

Please Lord, help us to learn to look to our own faults before we dare to look at another's. Please Lord, please teach us, help us learn these lessons and make them part of our lives, our REAL every day lives.

The next time we are tempted to fault another, please help us to pause and question our own faults first. Please.

We aren't saying that others don't have faults, we all do. But ignoring our own and choosing rather to expound on others faults is wrong, very wrong.

Help us LORD, keep us in YOU. Known by You and knowing You.

All in YOUR LOVE!

How you judge others will determine how you are judged

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

People talk about 'karma'  --

'Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect '

Pasted from <https://www.google.com/search?q=karma&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a>

And you'll often hear something called 'instant karma', meaning instantly having a consequence resulting from an action. Generally it's spoken of in this way- you do something to hurt someone or something and then you are punished in return. Or the opposite- you do something good and something good happens to you in return.

This 'Indian' concept is spoken of readily but the Bible, God's Word has this same concept.

'With what measure you mete, it will be measured to you again.'   If you do good, you'll be rewarded for that, if you do bad, you will be punished for that. 

This is TRUTH.

We can't expect instant rewards, or instant punishment all the time either, it just doesn't work that way.

You can be 'good' here and now and be punished horrifically having done nothing to deserve the punishment. Also, you can be evil and heap great rewards for it here and now. 

If you are being taught by JESUS you are being told that your actions have consequences. You are being told NOT to judge others because you WILL be judged in the same way. If you are compassionless you cannot expect compassion. If you judge ruthlessly, then you will be judged ruthlessly.

We are told NOT to judge.

JUDGE NOT.

If we withhold judgment of others we do NOT risk being judged wrongly ourselves.

How easy is it not to judge though?  Obviously it's not something that isn't an issue, if it weren't Jesus wouldn't have had to teach us about it, would He?

Judge not.

Try to pay attention to how much you judge, do it for a day, a week, a month. Try to catch yourself judging others.

Judging-  (verb) dictionary definition-

'to pass legal judgment on; pass sentence on (a person)'

'to form a judgment or opinion of; decide upon critically'

'to infer, think, or hold as an opinion; conclude about or assess'

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/judge>

Judge not.

And from the Webster's Bible dictionary-

'To censure rashly; to pass severe sentence.'

Judge not.

And our being told to Judge not is spoken of in connection with what measure we mete, we will be measured with.

This truly does go hand in hand with LOVE.

We are to LOVE our neighbors. We are to treat others as we want to be treated - no matter how they treat us- this is LOVE.

This also goes hand in hand with forgive others as you want our Heavenly Father to forgive you.

We desire forgiveness, we desire understanding, we desire leniency, we NEVER want to be treated harshly, never. 

We MUST treat others as we want to be treated and SATAN will try EVERYTHING to keep this from happening.

Satan wants us to judge others and judge them harshly. Satan wants us to hold others to higher standards than we hold ourselves. Satan wants us to be without compassion.  Satan wants us  to take on an air of superiority just because we haven't had the misfortune of getting caught up in things others have.  Satan will stop at NOTHING to get us to judge others and mete out very harsh punishment.  Satan will blind us in any way he can blind us and keep us self-righteous and arrogant, and even blind to that in ourselves.  And if we aren't blind to that in ourselves then he'll get us to like our own arrogance and self-righteousness, he'll get us to be proud of ourselves. He'll convince us that EVIL is good, when in truth it can only always be EVIL!

We need to pray for compassion, pray for the love we need to have towards ALL others- not just a select few we choose to love.

May God help us to JUDGE NOT!

By HIS Grace and HIS Righteousness may we learn to JUDGE NOT.

In HIS LOVE!

Truth- take no thought for tomorrow

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Seek first.

If you are seeking something first then it stands to reason that you will seek something next, a second thing, a third thing, and so on.

Our Savior is teaching that we must SEEK FIRST the KINGDOM of GOD and GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS.

We've become consumed with seeking so many things before we seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. We let our lives become consumed by our worries and concerns. Just because we cannot fathom how we will be fed, or clothed, or even how we will drink doesn't mean God does not.  We come back to that very old sin that Satan instigated in heaven as he chose to sin- we want to be LIKE GOD! We want to know.   Satan tempted Eve seeding her thoughts with just this same thing.  Eat the forbidden fruit and you will know good and evil, you will be like God. 

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

KNOWING. You will KNOW Eve, you will know all there is to know- LIKE GOD. 

Satan LIED.

We are not like gods, our eyes are not opened in any good way at all, and our knowledge of good and evil has NOT made us like gods.  

GOD knows our every need and here's the catch, the biggest,  the only catch - if you want to call it that- GOD knows our every need and our ONLY real need is SALVATION, and that salvation offers us the kingdom of God in eternity with Him and His Son, without SIN.  This is our ONLY real need.   We think it's all this other stuff, we get caught up in the cares of this life so much it excludes our only real need- salvation.

Right now you might be shaking your head vehemently and saying I can't let my children starve! My children have needs!  I can't stop needing to provide for my family!  But ask yourself this, PLEASE, ask yourself this…  do your children, does your family need salvation?  If we ALL need salvation first and foremost that includes our families. 

No, I'm NOT definitely NOT advocating that anyone stop providing or trying to provide for their families physical needs.  What I am saying is that all the providing in the world will NEVER get you or your children salvation, and this is what we NEED to seek FIRST, and all else after.

We've stopped seeking the kingdom of God first and regulated it to a different level that comes after we've done this, that, and the other thing.

We've decided at some point that if God really is caring for all our needs He'll do it THEN we'll know Him and THEN we'll follow Him and seek Him. 

Let's read these four verses through again:

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Take no thought for the morrow.

We've already talked about seeking first God's kingdom and this is Christ's TRUTH.

Does this mean we will NEVER say- "What are we going to eat?"   Of course it doesn't. Food doesn't magically appear and it didn't magically appear for Jesus. He went into others houses and was served food. SOMEONE had to have the forth thought to have that food available.  We go to the market, or stores (most of in the U.S.A. go to supermarkets) and we buy food not just for a day but for a few days, a week, or more. To buy such food we are thinking ahead to 'what are we going to eat.'  The same for drink and clothing, we make plans to drink and to buy clothes to wear.  There would be a lot of naked, hungry and very thirsty people around if we were all to just sit around do our jobs, get our pay, and yet never think about buying food, drink, or clothes.  We think about it, and we think about tomorrow, we make plans. Tomorrow I have to do this, tomorrow I have to do that. I have an appointment for tomorrow, etc. We think about these things and it's natural. Very few, if any, people can truly say they never think about what they're going to eat- the truth is they are thinking about it moments before doing it, right? Even if someone else prepared it and set it on a table, before you take that first bite you are thinking about that bite you are going to take.  Very few can say they live in the here and now because the moment they have a thought to do something- they are thinking ahead. You'd be completely immobile if you never thought about what you were going to do. This is taking Jesus' words to such an extreme the entire meaning is gone.

Seek FIRST.  Not SEEK ONLY.

All these thing shall be added unto you-  you will be provided for- YOUR ETERNAL LIFE, YOUR SEEKING ETERNAL LIFE will be provided for even if you are called to walk the walk of starving to death, dying of thirst, or perishing from exposure.  It's NOT our call to make, it's NOT our place to question God's ways.  We could say that God must really love those who are millionaires for supplying them with all they'll ever need in this life, and likewise God must really despise those who are dying of hunger, thirst, and exposure.  

Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and we will be provided for.

If we worry about tomorrow we are borrowing trouble. The worry, as we talked about a few days ago, steals our faith.

People have been taught to worry.  We teach our kids to worry.  We teach and have been taught that not worrying gives off the impression of NOT CARING, NOT BEING RESPONSIBLE, NOT TRYING, BEING LAZY, etc. 

Satan has done a number on our FAITH. Satan has hacked away at our faith and will continue to do so as much as he possibly can.

Letting go and letting God- has become something foreign to us in reality. We may mouth the words while we hold on to our secret anxiety, our hidden worry, only NOTHING is hid from our God, nothing.

Please LORD help us to TRUST YOU in ALL THINGS!

Please LORD help us not let worry steal our faith!

Please LORD teach us, open our hearts, our minds, our lives to learn all we need to learn to be YOURS wholly YOURS!

Forgive us because we are so far from being learned pupils.  Forgive us our refusal to learn to live Your word. Forgive us for NOT seeking FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness!  Help us! Save US!

In Your amazing LOVE!

Real life spiritual zombies

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

This is truth. We worry we don't believe, we don't have faith, and we are told NOT to worry by JESUS Himself. Yesterday we talked about this a tiny bit but it bears much more consideration because our SAVIOR expounded on this, and if He expounded upon this then WE need to LEARN THIS LESSON and learn it good. We can't just read this haphazardly and dismiss it. We can't just study this and not LIVE it. We can't comprehend this and NOT incorporate it into our lives in a REAL WAY. If we learn this in a very superficial way as something to know but not do, then we aren't learning at all. We are those who are getting the seed among the thorns, not on good ground, and our SAVIOR tells us what happens when we receive seed among the thorns.

Mat_13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

The CARE of THIS WORLD, the DECEITFULNESS of RICHES- CHOKE the WORD!

If you're choking something you're killing it, killing the words of our SAVIOR. When you kill the word or are in the process of killing God's word you can gain NOTHING from the Word you are killing.

The Word is not allowed to live in you life and if you don't allow the Word to live you cannot expect to have life, it just won't work.  How many REAL LIFE SPIRITUAL ZOMBIES exist today? Those who are living but spiritually dead, those who believe they are living spiritually but are really killing the Word of God. How many people are allowing the Word of God be choked by the CARE of this WORLD and the DECEITFULNESS of RICHES?  How many are so wound up in all the daily worries about living and how much they all entail having enough money, believing that if they only had the money (DECEPTION) that somehow all these worries will disappear.  Truthfully we cannot let ourselves believe in temporary RICHES over  eternal life with our SAVIOR- HIS WORDS!

We have to look at our lives and ask ourselves whether or not we could be a spiritual zombie.

Does our HAPPINESS here and now depend upon the things we possess? Are we depressed when we cannot fathom a better future here and now? Do we allow our lives to be controlled by the things of this temporary world? 

People call other people crazy when they talk like this, saying our world is just temporary to eternity. Actually living a life with this as a real belief day in and day out people overall believe you to be crazy, why? Because the world would cease to function as it does if everyone chose to believe this way, and those people can't imagine a world without our great financial institutions, without our technology and advances. Most of us cannot imagine being happy without access to our computers and other electronic devices.  Take away the electricity and people spend most of their time WANTING that electricity back. I'm not advocating a dictatorship upon earth by ANY MAN. When people are controlled by other people in any way there will always be problems. Bottom line, this world as it is, is hopeless and it WILL NOT continue indefinitely. How often I've brought up the Bible verse with Jesus saying HE'S NOT OF THIS WORLD and WE ARE NOT TO BE OF THIS WORLD. 

Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Jesus was ALL about the kingdom of HEAVEN, not the kingdom of earth.  And if HE, our SAVIOR was all about the kingdom of HEAVEN then why are we so bent on being all about the kingdom of earth?

Jesus taught--

Mat 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

A bird, a lowly bird, a bird an animal we use as food all the time, a simple bird does not plant any seed in the ground. A simple bird does not reap any seed they've sown they've sown none. A simple bird does not store up the product of their sown seed into barns for eating later on.  A simple bird does NONE of those things and yet they LIVE. Who provides for their needs?  God.  And if God provides for birds which are simple why can't we believe God will provide all we NEED for us who are the superior beings- humans made in the likeness of God Himself. 

The trouble comes when we STOP trusting God to provide for all we need to be HIS in eternity. We screw up our thinking and believe that God has to provide for all our needs to live here in this temporary existence.  Many a martyr went  to their deaths NOT thinking God had stopped providing for them, but others might look upon them and think that. Didn't Jesus Himself have to hear the taunts about His being able to save others but not himself?  Salvation and life to the ungodly is all about living here and now and NOT about the real life we can have in eternity.  Those martyrs went to their deaths knowing that God had provided EVERYTHING they ever needed for eternal life in JESUS CHRIST. Even their own lives here and now were but temporary to eternity.  And the fact that God allowed their path to mean a path of deprivation and ultimately being murdered did not mean God stopped caring for them in any way!

It's all in the destination we choose- are we living for here and now and all we can get out of it without any real hope for eternity, or are we living for eternity with everything here and now holding very little sway over us?

Jesus taught--

Mat 6:27  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Can you make yourself taller, or shorter?  We might be able to do a lot about our sizes weight wise but actually adding inches to yourself or taking them away is impossible unless you want to undergo surgery etc, but can your MERE though change your height in anyway? NO!

Jesus taught--

Mat 6:28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

Mat 6:29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Mat 6:30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

If our mindset is on eternity, our arraying ourselves in the finest of clothes means nothing, they are in the end only clothes.  The lily in the field is more beautiful than ANYTHING anyone can ever create to wear.

Jesus taught--

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

More on these four verses tomorrow, all by the GRACE of GOD, all through HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Please LORD help us not to be spiritual zombies going through the motions having the thorns ruin the seed you've sown around us. Please LORD bless us and keep us from the thorny ground SATAN has ensnared so many in.  ALL BY YOUR GRACE!

Wasting the opportunity to trust

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

How is it possible for us to take no thought for our lives when in truth isn't that mostly all we think about, our lives? How can we help but think of our lives? Our Savior doesn't want us to be overcome with the TEMPORARY to ETERNITY parts of our lives to the exclusion HIS will, loving others.

When He said take no thought for our lives He included the following-

Don't worry about what you're going to eat.

Don't worry about what you're going to drink.

Don't worry about what you're going to wear.

Life is MORE than eating and our bodies are mean more than what we are wearing.

Jesus KNEW the serious temptation that people fall into concerning food, drink, and clothing. He knew the DANGERS of us obsessing over those parts of our lives.  And we DO obsess over these things. We obsess over so incredibly much that we should never obsess over.

If our Father in heaven wants us to eat, drink, and wear clothes HE will provide a way for these things. That isn't to say we are to just sit about and wait for the stuff to fall out of the sky. In providing us these things He provides a way for us to get these things that won't have us obsessing, or sinning in any way.

He will provide the means.

He tells us NOT to WORRY.  We spend so much time WORRYING. 

The thing is, that old bottom line will forever read that whether you worry or not the situation remains the same, worrying will NOT change the situation. We have an opportunity towards FAITH that we squander on worry.  I'm so guilty of this, so incredibly guilty, Lord God please forgive me for wasting so many opportunities to trust You with my endless, my countless hours spent worrying - thinking about my life.

Please LORD help me to recognize the worry when it first creeps in and seek YOU in prayer, coming to YOU knowing YOU will provide whatever I truly need to fulfill YOUR will for me whatever that may be. Please LORD teach ME! Help me to LEARN LORD!

All through YOU, all through YOUR amazing LOVE!

>

Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Two masters.

We've seen plenty of comedy shows take on the scenario of one person trying to tend to two sick people at the same time, or one worker trying to please two bosses, a child trying to please both parents. The comedic aspect comes in because the situations inevitably deteriorate to the point the one who is trying to please the others gives up in frustration, or everything falls apart and the one ends up pleasing no one. It's not until a decision is reached and the person is allowed to treat both those they were trying to please as one, or they choose one that the person has to please over the other, a chain of command is established, or a compromise is reached.  The point being all these scenarios reveal how having two 'masters' does not work out. And while they may be comedic fodder, there is a note of REAL truth in those scenarios.  The child trying to please both parents is necessary but not if the parents are giving conflicting tasks- that's when it becomes a situation that needs communication and understanding.  A person having two bosses, it does happen, but again when conflicting orders come from the bosses trouble arises. Having to tend to the need of two sick people when both are demanding attention above the other will bring about tremendous conflict and again an order of service has to be determined or the poor serving person will go insane.

We try to serve God and our flesh nature all the time. We try to mingle the two so that they get along. We call for many a compromise to make our flesh desires fit our God's commands, but it doesn't work.

When we serve our flesh we are choosing to serve our selves first over God and His command to serve others. The command to love others is just that a command to serve others, because love is the name we give the act of putting others first before ourselves, and boy do we have trouble doing that!

There are millions and millions of people who mouth the words of love to others but ask them to put others before themselves and serve the ones they are claiming to love and you get a whole other matter. 

When we say love we say as long as you meet the requirements of the sort of person I can love, I will love you. If you stop meeting those requirements my love for you just might stop too. If you dare to believe differently than I do then this will set up barrier between us and make it harder for me to love you. Yes, there are any number of conditions placed on love and our Savior simply said love as you would be loved.  Our Savior offered His love to all and then He offered a thing called forgiveness to those who didn't love at first. Endless opportunities to choose to love Him, until the point of death taking that opportunity away or the point of His return and all the choices having been made.

When we love we serve, when we serve we are given an opportunity to love.

If we love ourselves and our selfish desires we serve them.  If we love our God and His desires then we serve Him.

We have to ask ourselves who we are serving in all we do.  Yes, in all we do.

Sounds crazy doesn't it, expecting someone to ask themselves who they are serving when they wash the dishes, take out the garbage, brush their teeth, wash their face, etc.   The point here is to ask whether what they are doing is serving a SELFISH purpose.  Are they washing the dishes to impress someone, or simply because it's their duty to wash them?  Are they brushing their teeth to impress others or doing so because it keeps them healthy? What is the motive behind the actions, are they able to serve God better by taking the action, or is there a selfish motive behind it.  Most people would instantly say no way is it selfish to wash your own face- but what about the person who is obsessed with their own beauty and their washing routine goes far beyond a simple cleansing for health and well being? We can take actions that are considered perfect normal and pervert them, it happens all the time.

1Co_10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

When we choose to serve our self in such away that we are doing so because we believe we are the most important thing in our own life and deserving of all we can give ourselves, we are choosing to serve something very temporary, something that will fade away, something that will wither away, something that will turn to dust taking absolutely nothing with them to the grave. All the beauty they ever possessed will be gone, all the wealth will be gone, all their selfishness gone, everything will be gone.  The only thing that is left is any treasure we've laid up in HEAVEN, and the only treasures we can lay up in heaven are SPIRITUAL and those that are SERVING GOD and GOD'S WILL ALONE.

If we try to serve our selfishness we truly will end up hating God, the TRUTH of God and all that He really is, not the manufactured God people have created to pacify themselves as they sin.

We simply cannot serve our selfishness and God, it's impossible.

We make the choice and we make it daily over and over in many, many ways choosing who we will serve. When we die daily, it's a death to self and selfishness we are dying to.

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Take up his cross, and what is that cross for? It the instrument of death.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Daily this cross is taken up.

Every day we are to carry the instrument of death upon ourselves, and the death is one of self denial.

If we try to serve our selfishness and God we will ultimately fail and very miserably so.  If you find yourself very comfortable in your life and religion make sure you ask yourself if you've made any compromises with God's truth, seriously examine yourself.

2Co_13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

We have to examine ourselves, not simply accept that everything is peachy because we want to serve our self and God both.

If we aren't daily taking up the cross of self denial, we better be asking ourselves why not, and searching for that answer.  And remember the answer could be as simple our selfishness, as simple as our choosing to serve self over God. We have to acknowledge that we cannot serve our selfishness and God both. 

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Please Lord help us to choose YOU over our own selfishness in whatever form that takes. Satan has so many tricks and deceptions for us to get caught up in. Preserve us in YOU, protect us in YOU, let us live for YOU and only YOU, not for Satan and his pleasure.  Save us LORD, from ourselves and our inclination to self. 

All through YOUR love, YOUR righteousness, YOUR mercy and YOUR grace!

In You CHRIST, all in YOU!