While journaling today, I was called to read Acts 14:19 which says: (The Message)"Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead." Could Christians today be treated like that?
One can only hope Christian believers would not be treated like that today.
But would some of us even be recognized as being Christian?
True commitment to Christ, as described in my Study Bible, says, "Being a disciple of Christ calls for true, total commitment. As Christians, we no longer belong to ourselves but to our Lord, for whom we are called to suffer."
I do desire to have a true commitment to Christ, but I may not have one, as I have not suffered. And perhaps, I do not have a true commitment to Christ, as yet. Goodness knows, (And that means God knows),I have a long way to go if Christ desires this for me.
Yet, God has shown me that I belong to the Lord Jesus. I just don't always remember that! So, I have a job to do. I must keep reminding myself, in everything I think and do, that I belong to the Lord Jesus! He died for my many sins and that His love for me and all the world must sustain me and must come first.
I want this in my mind and in my heart, yet somewhere within me I am like the crowds that were stuck adoring the "old gods." And my "old god" is myself.
How can God forgive this? Yet I pray that He does. And I also know that if I am sincere and ask forgiveness, God will and does forgive.
Lord Jesus, I am a terribly self-centered person. So many of my thoughts lead to decisions favorable to myself. I am not a generous person even toward those I love as I am so often busy thinking of myself. Forgive me, I pray, and remind me when I am about to fail to consider others first. Please!
You are everything, Lord, even if one day I may be called t suffer.
Thank you for being My Lord! Your friend, Jo
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