Day 296: Right By Who?

*Take note of all the questions asked throughout today’s devo*

Colossians 3:17

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 John 4:8

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

I’m the type of person that believe there is something good in everyone. I like to see the good in everyone, I feel like everyone is good in one way or another, no one is born evil. We are born into evil but that does not mean we are evil human beings. With that being said, there’s is a difference between just being a good person, and being a person full of faith following God. Sometimes we get the two confused, just because someone is nice does not mean that their heart is with Christ. We can all be good people and do right by everyone, but are we doing right by God? That’s the question. Do we let our good deeds take the place of living like Christ, and walking in faith? I think a lot of times when we think about our good deeds we think that it’s enough to please God. We think that God just wants us to be a good person, yes He does but being a good person and being a Godly person can be two completely different things. We can all be good people, but at the end of the day a person who is made good through giving their life to Christ is different than a person who is “good” but still living a life of sin.  Don’t get me wrong God is very pleased by our good deeds, but it all comes down to our heart. Is Christ in our heart? That question gives so much meaning to who we are and why we do things.  

I remember when asked if I was living right, or living for Christ, I gave  list of all my good deeds and how I was doing right by people and how that meant I was a good person. I talked about how I fed the homeless, how I’ve bought meals for people and given them money, how I offer free service or help when someone needs it. That’s great and all but does it compare to the life I am living in Christ? Am I doing right by Christ, or am I just doing right by people and hoping that’s enough? The scripture above tells us that whatever we do we should do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, if I am not submitted to Christ and I have not given my heart to him how am I glorifying Him? I can do all the good deeds in the world but if I do not have love in my heart none of it matters. If at the end of the day I do not have Christ, was it really worth it?

Sometimes we as Christians get too caught up in what we are doing as opposed to how we are living. Meaning we are more concerned with our image as a Christian rather than being a devoted follower of Christ. This is something I had to learn as well because I was so concerned with helping people, going out and talking about Jesus, and doing good deeds, but it was only to prove my faith. It was all to show that I’m a Christian. It was really self-serving. It was to make me feel good as a person. It had nothing to do with pleasing God or helping people. Especially our generation with social media, and this constant need to show the good we do for people. It’s all self-serving. Jesus was less concerned with how many people saw what He was doing and more concerned with how many were saved. We are so concerned with how people see us that we forgot that the only opinion that really matters is the one we are ignoring. God. But when we really get to know God and when we really began to live like Christ, it becomes less about good deeds and more about being a servant of God. It becomes more about serving an everlasting God whose love is unfailing. It’s about the one who sacrificed it all for us. It becomes selfless. It is less about our earthly kingdom and more about His heavenly kingdom and eternal glory. It’s about glorifying His Kingdom and walking in love. If we do not have love we have nothing. We cannot walk in love and outside of God. God is love, so walking in love means we are walking with God. Doing right by God means loving Him first, and loving His people. Submitting our lives to Him and allowing Him to lead us every step of the way. We have to walk through life with the one who provided it. Creator cannot exist without the creator. Our lives are meant to glorify Him, and if we are not doing that are we really living, and are we really doing right by Him?

All this to say, doing right by people is not the same as doing right by God. Our good deeds are not always what it takes to live like Christ. We cannot be saved by good deeds alone, it takes faith.

Reflection

1. Take the time to answer the questions proposed today?
2. Are you doing right by God, self, or man?
3. Note that when we are doing right by God we are living exactly how we are supposed to live, therefore we are doing right by ourselves and His people.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to search your heart and check your intentions. Take the time to listen to what He is saying to you today.

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 297!

Day 131: No Picking and Choosing

James 2: 10-11

You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others. The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period.

2 Peter 2:21

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

James 4:17

“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

When we give our lives to Christ we give up the idea that we can pick and choose what we want to listen to or not. Serving God is not about what we agree with and what works for us. When we fully submit to God, we submit to Him and every part of His word. We do not obey the parts we like best, we obey every part even the parts that are hard to swallow, and that is how we change. We do not change doing and being the same things and people we are comfortable with. It is being uncomfortable that calls for change. We tend to lean towards the scriptures that coddle us, and yes we do need to be coddled at times, but sometimes we need scriptures that will call us out. We need something that will tell us what we are doing wrong and force us to change. However, we tend to stray away from that.

We’re okay with the bible until it goes against the lifestyle we want to lead. We seem to be okay with the scriptures until we come across a scripture that catches us by surprise. When it tells us that we are up to no good and need to change. That’s when we decide to press on the breaks, we can’t believe that God would have the audacity to call us out on our wrong doings. Well, He does because He loves us, and it is up to us to choose if we love our sinful lives more than we love God or do we love God so much that we are willing to give up the sin we find so much pleasure in. There are things in our lives that are easy to give up, but God is coming for those things that we can’t seem to let go of, the things we choose to overlook and make excuses for, God wants us to change that part of our lives. NO matter how we try to justify it, we can never justify our sin, especially when we know the word of God. When you think about it, we often try to justify the sin we do not want to give up. It’s not that we can’t give it up, that may be what it looks like on the surface but deep down it’s that we don’t want to give it up. We cannot serve God and remain in the world at the same time. It’s one or the other. We cannot choose to obey eight out of the ten commandments. If that’s the case we might as well not obey any of them. God wants all of us, not bits and pieces, He wants it all. Trust me, life is much easier when we are fully committed to God and not ducking and dodging in the shadows to hide or justify the sin we can’t seem to let go of.

We have this ‘good enough’ attitude, that we aren’t doing everything we should or could be doing but what we are doing is ‘good enough’. No, it’s not, especially when we know better, especially when we know what is right but we choose to ignore it. We are all guilty of it, including me. We cannot settle for ‘good enough’ when it comes to serving God, ironically that’s not good enough. When we know better we do better.

Reflection

1. Do you ever pick and choose what parts of the bible work for you and what parts do not? Whether in the past or present.
2. Do you have sin that is hard to give up?
3. Are you willing to give up the pleasures of sin in exchange for eternity with God?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. There is not going to be a prompt today, pray about whatever is on your heart after today’s devo, whether that leads you to repentance or what have you. Talk to god, allow Him into the depths of your heart and be honest with Him. Just have a conversation.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 132!

*Due to school being out and it being summer break the times in which the devos will be published daily have changed, instead of 6 am Pacific time it will now be 9 am Pacific. I will post other times when I figure out the exact times for everyone. Thank you*