July 21–Self-Centered or God-Centered??

It’s the weekend and ours began early this morning with a rain shower. What a blessing! We need the rain, but the selfish side of me thought “I just washed my car!” Isn’t that how we are though? We see showers of blessings falling all around and we think how it might inconvenience us? (Or maybe it’s just old self-centered me!)


Jesus says:

“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met...Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:30-34‬ ‭MSG‬‬


People who don’t know God fuss over these things. So, if I fret over a little inconvenience does that mean I don’t know God? I suppose it depends on the extent to which I fret. But I will say, I read that scripture and I repent. I repent for being preoccupied with things I think I need and not concentrating on how God is moving all around me. 


You know when I steep my tea every morning, I pour the water over the tea and in just a few seconds, the water is tea-colored—the whole cup of water tastes like tea. Not just a part but all. And the longer I leave the bag in the water, the stronger the tea gets. Jesus is saying here to steep our lives in God-reality, God-initiative and God-provisions and the longer we steep, the stronger we will become. To the point that when hard times come, we can handle them; when the storms of life crash into us, we can be left standing because we’ve been steeping. We’ve been preparing and we have no reason to worry to fear what may come because we are firm in our faith that God will bring us through the fire and the flood. He’s done it before and we can trust Him to do it again. So that feeling of “inconvenience”? It’s very much me-centered thinking and not at all God-centered, not at all what Jesus wants from us. Amen? 


Dear Jesus thank you for preparing the way to take us through the storms of life. We pray that you will surround us this day and help us to be steeped in your reality and in all your ways. We love you and adore you and fall on our face before you. You are the alpha and omega, our Savior, our all in all, the great soon and coming King of Glory. All honor and praise to you and we pray for your blessings and the power to share your message as we go though our day. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one and have a great weekend,

Pam


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