This Christian life isn’t about what can you do for me, it’s
about what can I do for God and others. If we’re taking offense at someone’s
words or actions, that means it’s all about us; it’s all about what just
happened to us . When we take offense, we’ve allowed bitterness into our hearts. When we think or dwell on that bitterness, it
begins to take root in our hearts. When we allow bitterness to take root, we
stop allowing God’s love to fill our hearts. When we’ve stopped God’s love growing in our
hearts, our hearts begin to harden and constrict, and we’re not
able to expand our hearts and grow our love for others. With our hearts
hardened we’re controlled by our flesh and its worldly desires, instead of, the
love that God wants us to share.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions
and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
(Galatians 5:24 NLT)
We’re not here to see what we can get from God; we’re here
to see what we can give to God. He’s already given us His Son along with His
righteousness, to be called His adopted children.
For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness,
and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience
the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into
right standing with Him). (Romans 5:19 AMP)
Jesus gave a parable to the people in Matthew 25, about the
Master who gave talents (this was a very large amount of money, comparable to
16 years of wages) to each of his three servants. The first and second servant
doubled the amount of talents and the third hid the talents. The first two were
given more because of what they did with the talents, while the third was
tossed into ‘outer darkness’. The
parable represents that the ‘gifts’ or 'responsibilities' that we all have been given to further the Kingdom
of God, each person is given a gift from God – whether it be a gift of musical
abilities, speaking, teaching, helping others with a service related ability;
everyone has something that they can use.
Maybe you have a car and can take others to church with you, maybe you
have lots of friends and you can invite them to service, or maybe you have a
job skill that you can share with the church. Everyone has something and one
day we will all be accounted of how we used those gifts. Based on how you use those gifts or responsibilities, means whether or not you hear, “Well
done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I
will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” OR cast
into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (quoted
from Matthew 5:14-30 NKJV)
The reason we use our gifts isn’t because we’re afraid we’ll
be cast into ‘outer darkness’, we use our gifts because our hearts have been
enlarged by God and we want to please Him. Yet, we can’t do that if our hearts
have been overgrown with bitterness, that bitterness is what caused the third
servant to hide his talents – he believed the Master was a cruel and a hard
person.
If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if
his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the
Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a
favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't
push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself
aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own
advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians
2:1-4 MSG)
When we’re busy loving others and putting God before
ourselves, we’re not comparing ourselves to our neighbor and feeling sorry for
ourselves or jealousy. Comparing only leads to thoughts that we're superior or inferior, so either way, we're making it all about us, instead of God. When God is first, our priorities fall into line with
God’s plan for our lives and that’s where the blessings are.
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will
get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself
to anyone else. (Galatians 6:4 NLT)
Focus on what you can do for God today and when you’ve given
of your heart to God, you will always hear ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.”
