No Eye Has Seen

Philippians 3:9 “and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” It is important not to be self righteous, It is so easy, especially for me, to look at my self, and begin to to think, “Well I’m not as bad as them so I must be doing good. Seriously I did that good thing earlier I know I am on the right because of that” even in this thinking I take the focus off of what Jesus did for me and put it on me and how I got out of bed ten minutes early. How foolish is this? I also put emphasis on what I do and how I can make myself pure and holy. When stated like this it is very easy to see the skewed thinking; however, in our own minds we have mastered the art of self ratification. Here in Philippians Paul states that he wants to be righteous in God’s eyes, righteous not by anything he himself did but righteous through God by faith. Now...

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead have I called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you. Wow. I seem to say that a lot but it’s how I feel. Jesus has called me His friend? He’s chosen to bring me into His circle of business that I might know what’s going on instead of just simply doing what I’m told. I find it interesting that He says, “I no longer call you servants” this would imply that at one point they were called servants. Showing me that, like the parable, they were faithful with little and now that are to be faithful with a whole lot more. I am in awe, (again) that Jesus would want to include my finite mind and understanding in His infinite world. I am amazed He would want to hear or take into consideration anything I would say to Him! This just goes to show how much God truly loves His creation and how much He really wants us to be a part of...

Ephesians 5:21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” As I started to think about this verse I had to break it down. And I came up with this: That we should submit to one another, not because any one of us did anything to worthy of my submission to them, but because of Jesus Christ’s example of submission to His Father. Jesus came here and was the lowest of the low and payed the ultimate price for my sin. He simply asked me to pick of my cross, leave everything behind and follow Him. By following His commands I submit to Him, and in turn He asks me to submit to my peers. I am to be the lowest of the low. The servant of all just as Jesus was. I must not take pride in my death to myself but find joy in the life that He gives me. This week could not have come at a better time. For the most part I don’t struggle with serving others or thinking of myself last. Yet I find myself taking pride in laying myself down. I find myself doing it just to be see...

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all means possible I might save some. I find it interesting that He mentions being weak specifically. This is probably because becoming weak is often the hardest of all human attributes to take on. I can see it’s necessity for reaching more people, however that doesn’t make it any easier. I personally have a hard time being weak. I feel like I should be strong enough for anything, I realize I feel this way because I don’t like to be a burden to other people. I would rather suffer alone than let anyone see I’m hurting. Yet, I can see there is a beauty in vulnerability. I can see how God uses it to reach more people than I ever could by pretending to be perfect. Application I will make a point to sit down and talk with some of the girls in my class about my struggles and hopefully encourage them to share theirs as well.

Galatians 5:13 You my brothers are called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love. We are call to be free, wow, free to serve each other in love, free of stress put on us by outward forces. We are free to joyfully serve one another. This verse was very freeing to me. As I have been putting on a lot of stress to get my homework done, spend my time with God, work out, get into deep conversations, try to sleep as well as a list of other things. This verse set me free. Yes I still have to do those things but they are not as important as serving my God and my class mates. I know that when I get my priorities straight with Him at the top of my heart, mind, and day that He will take care of the rest. As I was writing that part the song “shoulders” by for KING & COUNTRY came on. Haha God has a great sense of humor doesn’t He. Anywho, I am called give my cares to the one who breathes stars! The one who cr...

Romans 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failing of the weak and not to please ourselves. None of us are called to walk alone, yet I find that we often think we walk alone. This sadly opens the door for us to become extremely self centered, to not see or care about those hurting around us. I sometimes find myself expecting someone to come help me and I miss those suffering around me. Jesus has called me to run along side and bolster them in their faith; but I am too self focused to even see their pain. We are supposed to band together as the body of Christ to encourage one another yet we are so busy focusing on ourselves that this beautiful unity is often forsaken for selfish pity parties. It has been impressed on my heart these past couple of weeks how important it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily. I have learned that it is be no means possible in my own strength to build up my class mates but that I must let God do it. And guess what? He c...

Col 3:20 children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Eph. 6:1 Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. When I was little I heard another verse which says basically that if we obey our parents we will be blessed with long life. I like how both verses say essentially the same thing but one thing does stick out to me. One says that is pleases the Lord when we obey our parents and the other says it is right for us to obey our parents. I have seen many parents demand obedience with the only “authority” behind it being “because I said so” sadly in a lot of situations this has no consequence to the child. My parents tried this approach once or twice until they realized that it is God who gives them authority over us and so it is God who would bring the consequences of disobedience. I heard verses like "the wages of sin is death." Or "delayed obedience is disobedience." Thinking back on it now I am ver...

Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? I like how this verse answer the quandary in the verse before it which asks, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!” Many christians have asked this same question, myself included. We must choose whom we will be obedient to. The bible says no one can serve two masters. Whether we purposely choose one or not makes no difference. In the end one master will be served but who will it be? Our selfish desires? Which lead to death? Or to God’s will which leads to life. That’s why the bible also says to choose today whom you will serve. It is important to choose God least we unknowingly fall into sin. For wide is the path that leads to destruction and narrow the path that leads to life. It is v...

Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered...” We see by reading the verses surrounding this one that it is referring to Jesus. That He prayed fervently for the cup of death to pass from His lips, yet He knew that salvation could come no other way than by the sacrifice of His innocent blood. So He conceded to His Father’s will. I have to admit this verse confused me. After reading Verse 8-9 I discerned that the suffering was Jesus dying for our sins and thus He learned obedience though His suffering on the cross because He knew it was God’s will. However the phrasing still doesn’t make sense. God doesn’t send hard things our way just to “teach us a lesson”, or “beat us over the head” that’s not His style. He teaches through love and patience. Coming back to the verse then. I was confused as verse 9 goes on to say, “and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him...” I am pretty sure Jesus w...

Philippians 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. This passage is almost perfectly timed for me. We received our field assignments last night, I am very happy about my location (it will be available on facebook, on the potter’s field ministries page) However it is very far away and it is one of the most expensive plane tickets. I know I don’t have the money but I am believing God will bring it in. He will provide for me just as He provided for Paul and Timothy through the Philippian church. As Paul says in verse 13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” The whole context of this passage is that God is providing Paul’s needs, I know God will provide over and above my need for a plane ticket and anything else I need. He already knows what I need. I really appreciate that Paul clarifies he needs nothing outside of God. That the gift the church gave was God providing for P...