Cheating on God

Purity of Mind: Day 19 - A Different Way of Thinking

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love this world not the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything thing we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father, but are from this world.  And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Today's devo challenged me about what I want in life, I think it challenged me simply because lots of the things I want are super worldly, you know the regular things, a nice house, a good job and some nice stuff to go with it all, but this stuff and seeking after this stuff doesn't actually please God at all, in fact it turns him away.  Sure I can enjoy these things, i think, as long as my heart is after God's heart and not the satifaction that comes from having the nice stuff.  One verse that really stuck out for me was this: 

'You're cheating on God.  If all you want is your own was, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of god and his way.  And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that 'he's a fiercely jealous lover.' And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find.' James 4:4-6 (The Message)

I think I have spoken about this before, but I really need to start trusting God a bit more when he says he knows what's best for my life, rather than desperately trying to stay in control like I am, because I can't have it both ways.

Read more...

Seeking

Purity of Mind: Day 18 - Searching for Truth

Jeremiah 33:2-3
This is God's message, the God who made the earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: "Call to me and I will answer you.  I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own."

I think a lot of the time I take everything I know about God for granted.  It wasn't until when Dave first became a Christian, it dawned on me that I really had learnt heaps about who God was and what he did, but sometimes I wonder if its all really true, and how can I be super sure.  So often I look at other religions and wonder what would happen if I had been brought up in an Islamic house, or a Buddhist home, would I have just accepted those religions instead?  Thankfully, I guess I have had my own encounters with God and I know that he is real and that he has saved me, and continues to use me.  But this whole idea of truth and proof is something that I really struggle with in that, I feel like I need to be 100% sure all the time because if I am not than I fear I might be in trouble.  I know this is where faith comes in and all that kind of stuff, but sometimes I wonder what I could actually prove if I needed to, without just saying 'well I just know'.  In my devotion today, the author challenges me to seek God out, to test it all and to search, because God will prove himself time and time again.  I have often thought about doing this, but then I think of the verses about not testing God and wonder if its really ok to seek like that.  I think the other thing in all this is that even if I really wanted to search and test, I wouldn't even know where to start.  How does one start to research God...and the authenticity of the stories?  I have no idea.  

Read more...