The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
read
2 Samuel 15:3-6
Absalom begins to steal the hearts of David's people.
think
There are often times in our lives when we attempt to promote ourselves (whether purposefully or not) in unhealthy and selfish ways. We get puffed up, brag about what we've done and embellish the truth.
Our passage says that Absolom "stole the hearts of everyone in Israel."
It asks when I've been most tempted to steal the hearts of everyone in (fill in the blank)? That's a hard question. I can't recall that I've ever really been tempted to do that. I've had a different sort of temptation; wanting to turn peoples' hearts away from someone else. That's slightly different, but along the same line. I haven't wanted them following me, just not following someone else. The best way to avoid this type of temptation (I guess that there could actually be times when it is acceptable, especially if someone is leading them astray) is to constantly focus on Christ rather than on a person. If I'm leading people to follow Christ, then I don't have to worry about a person.
This also kind of goes hand-in-hand with recent entries about considering others to be more important than myself.
pray
It says to spend time inviting God to remind me that he loves me just the way I am, that I cannot earn his approval. This is the best of the good news! It says to ask God to show me my true identity as his child, an identity that is defined not by what I do, but by who I am and to whom I belong. I'm going to blockquote this...read it again.
Spend time inviting God to remind you that he loves you just the way you are, that you cannot earn his approval. Welcome God to show you your true identity as his child, an identity that is defined not by what you do, but by who you are and to whom you belong.
live
It says to find a friend to gently keep me accountable when I begin to promote myself in front of others. I already have one! I need to be ready to accept his input.
I've talked about Phillipp before. This is a guy that I work with who is pretty much a modern-day prophet. He's pretty amazing. If he says something related to God, I'm going to listen, because it will most likely be "spot on."
One more time...God loves you just the way you are. You cannot do anything to make him love you more. Likewise you cannot do anything to make him love you less! Your identity is not defined by what you do, but by who you are and to whom you belong.
Grace and peace, y'all!