Day 313: Don't Pressure Yourself

1 John 3:20

for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

Romans 8:1

There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

Some of us are way too hard on ourselves. Many of us can say that we are perfectionist. How many times have we looked down upon ourselves for something we did, or felt crappy because we felt like we could have done better? How many times have a put ourselves down because in our eyes we did something wrong. This even goes into self-harm, how many of us have harmed ourselves because we feel like we need to be better or do better or we are not satisfied with who we are. I know I have, done all of these things.

The thing about being a perfectionist and being too hard on ourselves is that we force ourselves to grow. However we do it in a harmful way. As an artist I am a very passionate person, and in general I am very hard on myself, and that allowed me to push to constantly being better, but talking down on myself and hurting myself when I was less than I thought I should be was not a healthy way to get there. I had to realize that discipline and being hard on myself are two completely different things. There is nothing wrong with self-discipline however there is a lot wrong with self-harm. God does not condemn us so why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we think of ourselves as unworthy when to Jesus we are worth everything. No we are not perfect and that is why we need Jesus. He completes us. That perfection we are seeking is only found in Christ, nowhere else. No matter how much we beat ourselves up, or talk down to ourselves, the only one that can make us whole and perfect is Jesus Christ.

Many of us have gone through very tragic things and blamed ourselves from them. Many of us have been abused and mistreated and that has caused us to think we are not enough. Well let me tell you right here and now; YOU ARE ENOUGH! God knew you were enough the moment He made the decision to create you. Don’t spend time coming down on yourself because of what others think or how people have treated you. God’s will for our life is not for us to be mistreated by others or ourselves. He wants us to live with Him and allow our lives to lead others to Him. God does not want us to be out here harming ourselves, it is not HIs desire that we hurt ourselves in any way. God is a healer, and He loves us through the pain. He loves us beyond our sin, and He sees us in our darkest hour. We a meant to live in unity with Him, not trying so hard to be perfect that we separate ourselves from Him.

We sometimes put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect Christians. When we decide to give our lives to Christ and are dedicated to serving Him ever day of our lives, we find ourselves under our own microscope. What I mean is we want so bad to please God and to live right that we pressure ourselves out of living. Meaning we are often so caught up in getting it right that we can get it wrong. We cannot constantly condemn ourselves for the things we have done or the things we do, no one changes overnight. We all want to be people of God, living right by the word and living a life free of sin, but we must find the line that goes beyond self-discipline and into self-condemnation, or pressuring ourselves to be perfect. The thing about us trying to be perfect on our own is, as I’ve mentioned before we can never get there. The thing about pressure is, too much of it can cause great damage. Think about how much damage we cause ourselves by feeling pressured by the need to be perfect, and the need to always get it right. We are human, and part of our humanity is that sometimes we will get it wrong, sometimes things won’t go the way we planned. But God is so good in the sense that even when we do get it wrong He is there to forgive us and teach us what is right. If we never get something wrongs we’ll never know what was right. Life isn’t about being perfect it is about the willingness to admit our need of a savior. It is about being willing to learn and grow.

All this to say, do not pressure yourself. Do not condemn us and HE created us and knows everything about us. If God, who created us and knows everything there is to know about us and knows what we are going to do before we do it, if He finds no reason to condemn us, let’s not do it to ourselves.  Living in unity with Christ means that there is no condemnation, none.

Reflection

1. Have you ever been too hard on yourself?
2. Has your need to be perfect caused you to harm yourself, whether physically, emotionally or mentally.
3. How has God helped you with that?  

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today. If you are that person surrender your worries to God. If you know someone who struggles with this pray for them and reach out to them and let them know they are loved by God and by you.

I love you, I really do. If you are struggling with self harm, please do not suffer in silence, reach out to someone, Anyone. Find someone who will pray with you. I love you and I hope you have an amazing day. Please share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 313!

Day 238: God's Temple

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Temple-A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth. Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.

The temple is the place where God dwells, it is the holiest of holy places. God’s spirit remains in the temple. Since God is a Spirit, He cannot dwell in a place where sin is, it doesn’t work, God and sin cannot cohabitate.

I grew up being told that my body is God’s temple, not really understanding what it meant or the depth of that statement until I was older. When we hear this term it is commonly referred to in conversations about sex. How we should not have sex before marriage, or engage in any kind of sexual immorality.  That is spoken about in 1 Corinthians 5. While it is true we should not engage in any acts of sexual immorality, there is so much more to it. Sex isn’t the end all, be all of sin. The church puts a lot of emphasis on sex before marriage as the worst, most condemnable sin of all. However, there are a myriad of things that will make you a sinner, but that is another topic for another day. When we think about God’s temple what do we usually think about?

The place where God dwells must be a place that is acceptable for Him, and place where no confusion lies, no sin, nothing that separates us from God but a place full of worship. The place where God’s presence is constantly. That’s the temple. Now when we think of ourselves or our bodies as God’s temple we must think of who we are as a Christian and the lifestyle we lead. A question we should ask ourselves is, “Is my body a place where God can dwell?” Meaning am I living my life in such a way that God’s presence is with me at every moment? Am I living and acting in a way that shows the Holy Spirit is within me? Am I holy? I know that’s a scary word for a lot of people, but it’s a simple yet profound word. We all proclaim to be Christians, but are we living like one? Or are we trying to find loopholes in the word of God? Sometimes we try to get around the parts of the bible we think don’t apply to us or shouldn’t apply to us. That’s not how it works, it’s all or nothing. If we are God’s temple we cannot be half in and half out. I think too often we take this as a burden, we view holiness as a burden, and this grand impossible task. It is not, it is more of an opportunity to grow in Christ. It is an opportunity to be in tune with God to remain close to Him. When I think about I am truly honored, and filled with gratitude that God loves us so much that He wants to be where we are. He wants to dwell within us. That’s amazing! Holiness is not a burden it is a lifestyle, and when we view it as such, we will no longer be burdened by it. When we decide that serving God is better and more important than our need and want to sin, this life of holiness will be more rewarding and even more relaxing.

Another question to ask ourselves, are we taking care of our temple? I mean that in every way possible. What are we doing to make sure that our temple is in tip top shape? First I mean it spiritually, is our temple clean? Are we making sure that it’s getting everything it needs to function properly. Meaning, are we diving into our relationship with God, are we feeding our spirit with His Word, are we praying? If we are fully devoted to Christ and committed to this life as a Christian, our temples will not be destroyed. We are the only ones that can destroy our temple. But also are we taking care of ourselves? Are we the vessels that God wants.

This can also be emotional, mental, and physical. Let’s not let anything get in the way of us being used by God. We don’t talk about physical well being in the church a lot, but the way I view it is, we must take care of the the body God has given us. Meaning let’s eat healthy foods, and workout, we only get one body and God gave it to us, so let’s take care of it the best we can. Also we must take care of ourselves emotionally and mentally. We can’t let our emotional or mental well being get in the way of our spiritual lives.  These topics are also topics that are skipped over in the church, but I believe that while God cares about our spiritual lives, He also sees and cares about those of us who are going through heartbreaks and struggling with mental illness. He’s there to help you through it and heal you.

All this to say, we must be the temple of God, as place where His spirit dwells. In order for the Holy Spirit to dwell in a place, that place must be holy. Are we holy?

Reflection

(Ask yourself these questions)

1. Is my temple a place where God can dwell?
2. How am I living?
3. Is my temple clean?
4. Am I taking care of my temple?
5. If anything, what is stopping my temple from being a place where the Holy Spirit dwells?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the about questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what it is to live and be holy, and be a home for the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to search you and cleanse your spirit and create a new heart within you. Have an honest conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 239.

Day 215: You're Not A Robot

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

My fear within the Christian community and those of us who have grown up in church is that we have conditioned ourselves to be spiritual robots. Meaning when we read this scripture all we see is, deny. Deny yourself in order to follow Christ. We take this to mean, deny your feelings, deny your impulses, deny who you are as a person because following Christ is now our personality. There’s a few points I want to hit today. First let me start by saying, God changes our ways as a person, He changes who we are by changing how we live. Following Christ does not mean we turn ourselves into robots. In fact it means the exact opposite, we  truly find ourselves when we are found in Christ. When Jesus tells us to deny ourselves here, He is telling us to deny our flesh, turn away from our selfish ways, turn away from the things we want to do that will keep us separated for Him. That’s the part of us we have to deny, the impulse to sin, the fleshly desires. God made us who we are for a reason, the personality we have He gave it to, I do not believe that it is God’s desire to strip us of who we are and force us to be robots. I believe that the idea itself is something man made in order to make us look like better or good Christians. What it does is turn us into spiritual robots. Meaning that being a Christian and following Christ will become nothing more than a routine and obligation. We are made to worship, but many times we confuse worshipping God with living a religious life. Based on rules. When we live by religious rules, we are so focused on the things we cannot do because we serve God. We focus on not doing things in order to stay in “good graces” with God. Which is ridiculous, God’s grace doesn’t run out. Religious rules puts pressure on us to prove our spirituality. When we are in a relationship with God, and when we truly follow Him and love Him this relationship isn’t about what we can’t do. It’s about what we can do, it’s about living with God and enjoying the life He has blessed us with. We are so obsessed with the idea of being a good Christian that we start to lead this robotic lifestyle that God never intended for us to live. If God wanted to be served by robots, He would have made robots. No He gave us a mind, and choices and free will. He gave us the brain to think the capacity to love and the choice choose to serve Him. Don’t deny your humanity. He made us the way we are for a reason. He gave us a personality for a reason. Don’t deny it.

The second point I want to get to is how we have made ourselves emotional robots. When we think about denying ourselves we deny our feelings, we deny how we feel. That is not how we are meant to live, we are human, we have feelings, whether good or bad. It’s what makes us human. God gave us feelings for a reason. Feelings are part of the human anatomy, everything from pain to happiness. We as Christians tend to deny the feelings that in our opinion show we are weak. Even if they do, it shows that we are human and it shows the areas of our life where we need the strength of God. We openly accept the good parts of life sometimes.

Religion has taught us that humility means we don’t get too excited when we succeed, it’s taught us to suppress those excited and proud feelings so we won’t be arrogant or boastful. It’s taught us to deny the feelings that are bad, deny anger and pain. Deny depression, because Christians don’t get depressed or have anxiety deny it because it’s not from God. Denying it does nothing but make it worse. Nowhere in the bible does it say that beings angry, sad, upset, or even depressed is a sin. The sin comes when we act on our anger. When we allow how circumstances to dictate who we are and how we lead our lives, when we allow it to keep us away from God. Being emotional or sensitive is not a sin. We have been taught to be strong and persevere, to pick up our cross and continue walking like Jesus. Jesus persevered yes, but we know that He was in pain, however there was something greater than His pain, and He acknowledged. That doesn’t mean that He acted like the pain didn’t exist, it meant that He was willing to take it in order serve a greater purpose. We see that in the Luke 22 when Jesus prayed at the mount of olives.

Luke 22:42-44

“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.  

The scripture says that He was in agony. Agony! So much agony that His sweat hit the ground like great drops of blood. Let me give you the definition of agony; extreme and generally prolonged pain; intense physical or mental suffering. Now some say that Jesus was actually sweating blood. That’s how much agony He was in. Now here is a perfect example of denying yourself, taking up your cross and walking. Jesus says, if it be your will God, take this cup from me but not my will, yours be done. Even though He was in pain, He was willing to deal with it if that’s what God wanted. He didn’t pretend like it wasn’t there, in fact He tried to ease it.  But if He had to go through this in order to fulfill His purpose and fulfill God’s plan than He would do it, and He did. And that’s what it means to deny ourselves.

All this to say, when we deny our feelings because of our faith, we are chasing false strength. Meaning we want to look strong because Christians aren’t weak. We put up a facade like everything is okay when we are dying on the inside. Denying our feelings and who we are in order to serve religion only begets more issues and problems within us. Following Christ is not about looking strong or looking like a good Christian. It is about submitting our life to Christ and living a life that follow His plan and purpose.  Embrace your feelings and embrace who you are. Serve God, not religion.

Reflection

1. Are you familiar with the traits of a spiritual or emotional robot?
2. Have you been living your life like a robot?
3. Take the time to search yourself and ask, am I serving God or religion? Am I living to please God or man?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God what it truly means to deny yourself and pick up your cross.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 216!

Day 189: Don't Run Away, Deal With It!

Something that I have learned time and time again is that running aways from problems does not solve them. It hides them for the time being but they will always catch up with us.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The keywords in these scriptures is, “face trials”. It doesn’t say have problems or run away from them. It says consider it pure joy when you face trials. That to me means we have to face the trials in our lives head on if we want to keep our joy. We cannot ignore what is going on in our lives because we don’t want to deal with it. If we want to move forward we have to face whatever it is in our lives that is bothering us or presenting a problem.

This is something that God has been teaching me recently, to get in touch with my feelings and not ignore what is going on in my life. I believe that mental and emotional health is just as important as our spiritual health because if we are not mentally and emotionally healthy, then it will start to take a toll on our spiritual wellness. I think many times as Christians we tend to ignore these things because we are Christian, we feel like we don’t have to deal with a problem because we pray. Sometimes it starts with a prayer, and then we have to do some deep digging to get to the root of the issue, then we pray some more. We have to be honest with ourselves if we want to grow, yes prayer changes things, I believe in the power of prayer, but we sometimes use, “I’m praying about it.” as an excuse not to deal with it. We use prayer as our scapegoat.  

If we want to grow in life we have to learn how to access our true feelings and not shy away from them, no matter what they may be. Pinpoint the problem and face it head on like David did Goliath. Now the thing about prayer is that it will get us through, God will give us all we need to get through the trials, but we still have to go through them, we still have to deal with it. That is how we persevere and become stronger, we look to God to help us face trials, not to help us skip over them. In the end we will be stronger. We have to choose to do this however. We have to choose to stop running and hiding and dare I say it again, deal with it.

Reflection

1. Check in with yourself from time to time. Set a reminder to check in with yourself. Take the time to examine every area of your life. How you’re doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. Set a reminder, take at least 10 minutes at the end of every day or every other day to see how you are doing. You must prioritize yourself.
2. Find a way to let out whatever it is you're going through, to get to the root of it. For me I write and make video diaries.
3. Find a way of release, pray first and then do whatever it is you need to do to release yourself. For me this is working out, painting, or going for walks or hikes. Spend this time alone to recuperate and really talk to God.
4. Last but not least, talk to someone. Someone you can trust. Don’t be afraid to set up an appointment with a therapist. God has given therapist the gift they have to serve others, He knew we would need it at some point. If you need to see a therapist, go. You don’t have to tell anyone about it unless you want to.
5. This is your life, take care of yourself, take care of your spiritual, mental, and emotional health.

Prayer Time

Pray about what we talked about today, start by checking in with yourself and pray about, Talk to God about whatever is on your heart ask Him to help you face your problems head on and uncover the truth that needs to be revealed within you. This is between you and God, if you choose to share with others, do so. If not, then you don’t have to share.

I love you so much, and I hope you have an amazing day. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 190!