In Christ!

Verse of the Week: 

“Therefore if any man is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

In Christ!

I failed again despite my best efforts. I am a horrible person.  I lashed out with my tongue again.  I spoke badly about another person. I thought bad thoughts about another.  I acted unforgiving towards someone.  I started worrying about something. I became impatient with a person.  I had lustful thoughts.  I became prideful and put others around me down.  I judged another. I ignored someone because they were different.  I acted selfishly.  Any of these sound familiar?

Have you ever tried really hard to try to do better or to improve yourself and then turn right around and fail miserably? It seems whenever we focus on our sins and try to correct them, we end up doing them more.  Even Paul struggled with this and said in Romans 7:19-23 (MSG):

“ But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.”  

I am right there with Paul, I want so bad to do right, and I delight in the commands God has given me, but I can’ t seem to get the job done.  But then I realized something…Notice something that Paul and I wrote over and over up above …the word “I.”  I can’t, I don’t, I try, I messed up, I, I, I, and I…

No wonder people give up.  It is hard work to do the right thing in your own strength, but here is the key.  I can’t do it, but Christ can.  “Therefore if any man is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Here was the problem I had; I knew I was supposed to do things IN CHRIST, but how?  That is where I got puzzled, and so the cycle continued. I would try to do things once again in my own strength and failed every time.

The transformation of understanding how to do things in Christ came from the seeing someone else live in Christ’s strength, my husband. My husband struggled with worrying, and at one point he worried to the extent that it was not only bringing himself down, but the people around him at home down. But then Christ came into the picture, and Brian figured it out long before I did.  You see, before he trusted Christ, he would ask God to help him not to worry.  Even though he was asking God for help, he was still focusing on the problem and trying to solve it HIMSELF, but that is not what God wants. God wants us to focus on Christ. Christ wants us to give him total control. Brian began to realized that there was a higher power that could take care of his worries. He couldn’t control his worrying, but Christ could.  He started focusing on Christ.  For example, when a worry came into his head, he said, “Lord  [Christ], THANK YOU for helping me not to worry.”  Instead of asking Jesus to HELP him not to worry; he placed complete trust in Jesus by THANKING him.   Why ask Jesus to help him when Jesus can do it all?  So he thanked him instead having faith that Jesus had it under control, and it took all of the pressure of solving the problem off of Brian.  Brian just had to sit back and let Him take the driver’s seat. He realized that it was Christ who would take care of his worries and thanked him for it.  I saw a remarkable transformation in him when he started making his focus Christ.

You see, we focus on the problem we have, and, as a result, we make it worse. Instead of focusing on the problem, focus on Jesus and thank Him for helping you because He will if you give him the reins.

The beautiful thing about God is that he loves us even when we mess up.  He doesn’t focus on our mistakes, because once you accept Jesus into your heart, He sees Christ in you.  There is NOTHING you can do to make God stop loving you. So don’t beat yourself up when you mess up, God still loves you.  Remember, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are JUSTIFIED freely by HIS GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). You are FORGIVEN for your past, present, and future mistakes; don’t waste time focusing on your mess ups; focus on Jesus.

By changing our focus to Jesus we can rephrase the first paragraph above.  In Christ I am victorious, because of his saving Grace.  In Christ I am worthy (Ps. 139:14).  In Christ, I am kind and compassionate (Col 3:12).  In Christ, I am gentle (Gal 5:22-23). In Christ, I am a forgiving person (Colossians 3:13).  In Christ, I am fearless (Ps. 56:4).  In Christ, I am patient (Gal 5:22-23). In Christ, I am pure (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).  In Christ, I am humble (Col 3:12).  In Christ, I am accepting (Romans 15:7).  In Christ, I am others-focused (Philippians 2:3).

FOCUS on Christ, He lives INSIDE of you. Focus on who he is, what He does for you, what He would want you to do. Give Him complete control.  What a difference He makes in our lives if we do that! 

Who you are In CHRIST!!!

Who Are You Doing it For?

Verse of the Week:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

Who are you doing it for?

Another load of dishes to do, another diaper to change, another bottle feeding, another load of laundry, another meal to cook, another floor to clean, another phone call to make, another bill to pay, another item to update in our budget, another errand to run, another daily walk with my son, another grocery shopping trip, another toilet cleaning, another bedtime story to read, another another another...My life seems to run in a continuous cycle of doing the same thing over and over on a daily basis.  There are many times when I groan when I see another stack of dishes just after doing a previous load a couple of hours ago or when the laundry is piling when I did a load the day before.  It is so tempting to complain and wonder how is doing any of this stuff going to change the world.   You see people believe that in order to make their lives count, they need to make an impact on society, and it seems like the daily task I do have no impact.  After all, how is cleaning the toilet going to help starving children in third world countries? But God says otherwise.  In Colossians 3:23 it says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."  You see, the tasks that I complete daily is not done to serve mankind, but rather to serve my heavenly Father.  Whether you are a lawyer, doctor, politician, garbage man, or a stay-at-home mom, your goal is to do each task to the best of your ability because God deserves your best.  You see if you try to do your work FOR GOD FIRST, then you will see how your daily tasks actually do impact society.  At a closer glance, I begin to realize that all of the chores that I do are necessary to keep our home running smoothly.  I am creating a place of refuge for my husband to come home to after work and a place of security for our son.  Keep on coming dishes, I am doing it for the Lord! :)

Ms. Fix-it

Verse of the Week:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

     How unsearchable his judgments,     and his paths beyond tracing out!“Who has known the mind of the Lord?     Or who has been his counselor?”“Who has ever given to God,     that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things.     To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

Ms. Fix-it

Hello, my name is Katrina, and I am your typical Ms. Fix-it.

Need advice?  Whenever my husband came home from a tough day at work, I gladly gave him my opinions and advice that I believed would help fix his situation; in which, eventually he would say to me, “Katrina, I don’t need advice; I just need, you to LISTEN.” 

Need help getting your 4 month old baby to sleep through the night? No problem. After hearing that rice cereal can help them sleep through the night, I was determined to give it a try.  My poor baby despite his crying, protests, and clamping his mouth shut was fed rice cereal.  The result? An extremely colicky baby with a tummy ache who set the world record of waking Brian and I up 6 times in one night.  I finally surrendered and took him off the rice cereal. One week later WITHOUT his Mommy’s help, he slept 7 hours straight in one night.

 

You see, I believe many of us have the illusion that we are in control and it is up to us to fix situations.  However, we are deceiving ourselves if we believe we are in control. Often times when we try to fix things, we end up making it worse! Let’s face it, life happens, and sometimes sickness, job loss, debt, hurt relationships, buying a new house, and many other things spiral out of our control, and as hard as we try, we can’t fix it.  I can remember a very tough time in my life when someone close to me was struggling spiritually.  I tried to help that person by giving my advice, starting heated debates about why God is real, and quoting Bible verses.  However, despite all of my efforts, that person was still in a lot of spiritual pain, and there was nothing I could do to change it. If anything, I was making the situation worse.  Finally, after months of frustration, I gave that person to God and prayed everyday for that person’s faith.  A month later, I got to watch God transform that person’s life, and strengthen that person’s faith. God did it WITHOUT my help. 

Why are we so sure that God needs our help with problems in life?  Perhaps it comes from not really understanding how powerful God truly is.  Romans 11:33-36 shows just how amazing our God truly is. Don’t just skim the verse, read it carefully and meditate on His awesomeness!

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
     How unsearchable his judgments,
     and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
     Or who has been his counselor?”
 “Who has ever given to God,
     that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
     To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Our God displays wisdom and knowledge that neither you nor I can comprehend.  We cannot understand His mind nor give Him counsel; in fact, we cannot give Him anything because all things belong to Him!  WOW!  God doesn’t need my help; He has everything under his control.  In fact it says in the Bible that God has put all things under Christ’s authority or feet (I Corinthians 15:27).  Maybe we should stop trying to push Christ off the throne and let him reign. Why don’t we let Him be in control this week?

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6