"...but also for the interest of others"

I woke up this morning with this verse in mind. The more I thought about it and dissected it in my mind the more I gained a new understanding of the verse.

It comes from Philippians chapter 2, verse 3 "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

The breakdown went something like this..

Do nothing from SELFISHNESS (meaning acting out of an "it's all about me" mentality) or EMPTY CONCEIT (I know what empty means, yes, but empty conceit? Google....)

*pause

I then dug up this very well thought out and written definition from a blogger - I quote "Selfishness, of course, is when we are seeking personal gain. But empty conceit is something altogether different (although it is still based in selfishness). It is when we act based on an exalted view of ourselves and our own importance."

Specifically -- "When we act based on an exalted view of ourselves and our own importance"

I love that wording! I'd never thought of empty conceit like that before either. Regretfully my first instinct was to examine the people in my lives who SO do that. Then I reflect for a second and remember 1 Timothy 1:15 "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst."
Jesus came to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst. Truer words were never spoken.

So while, yes, it is ridiculously easy to pull several logs out of peoples eyes and think "wow, doesn't get much worse than what ________ is doing, now does it?"  *buzzer noise.  Wrong. I've done worse than that. We should always examine first ourselves and how we've shamed God in our own actions and words and allow the Holy Spirit to bring forth the proper conviction for the names of offenders on our mental lists. 

Christ died for us all - kings and beggars. The greatest and the least of us. Let us not count ourselves as more important than anyone else because at the end of the day we are still sinners in need of rescue.

End Rant.

Peace that surpasses understanding

Google so kindly defined Peace as "freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility." 

Quiet. And Tranquility. Freedom. Complete and total zen, as some may say. 

This word, I'll admit, has been absent from my memory log which thus translates to being absent from my day-to-day living. 

Peace.

Something as simple as that. And with life being as chaotic and dramatic as ever lately a word like "peace" sure could be useful. 

In Philippians 4 Paul writes that we aren't to be anxious about anything. Yet that is where I often find my heart and my mind wandering towards. He says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Gut shot.

So many times, so many circumstances I find myself sitting alone in my thoughts (my LEAST favorite place to be) thinking "Well, crud, here I am with this situation and I am just stuck. There is obviously no hope here. I'm basically done for.. Here is where my end begins.. Way to go, Kait" 

But then God steps in and basically just says "Pray. With thanksgiving (meaning your life isn't completely in shambles and you have TONS to be thankful for), and present your request to ME. The God who has always promised to take care of you and has been faithful to do so. And when you finally release that to ME I will give you peace to guard your ever wandering heart and mind from doubt." 

Peace.

There's that word again.  The word I'd about forgotten because I've been too needy and restless to even consider this word.

When you think about it, though, it's a powerful word. Who DOESN'T like to be at peace? No one willfully says "This whole quietness, tranquility, and feeling of 'aaaahhhhh' is just completely worthless.. I'm done with this!" 

In my 24 years of life and in all the times I find myself alone in my thoughts -- I can honestly say THAT internal conversation never took place.. 

But it's such a pivotal thing. Peace, I mean. Not just as a Christian but as a human being.

With the seemingly constant and ever changing pace in today's society and everything in borderline complete and total chaos ... it's important to set your sights to God and remember Peace.  

To be at peace with YOURSELF (how you look, who you are, etc)
To be at peace with your CIRCUMSTANCE (even if its REALLY difficult)
To be at peace with your LIFE (It is a gift! Don't squander it.) 

God gives us Peace. And not just any Peace. It's a Peace that comes directly from the source of all Peace. Scripture is dripping with words that instruct and encourage we be at peace (considering all aspects of life, here). Whether its wishing peace upon someone else, praying for peace for yourself, peace between enemies, or thanking and praising God for peace.  Peace is everywhere. And it is important.  

God has overcome the World so He can certainly handle anything you're dealing with in the world. May the knowledge of that bring some semblance of Peace. Quietness. Tranquility. Freedom. 

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

 

Hope is What We Crave

Been a long while since I’ve last posted – going to try and clear the dust mites and cob-webs from my blog. ;-)

So here’s what’s up - this week, and the week prior, I’ve been hearing and/or reminded of the verse in Psalms where it states “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalms 42:11). I feel like it’s been everywhere! Songs, thoughts, things people say, random things throughout the day, ect.

I honestly love the concept of “hope.” It is, to me, a very strong and powerful thing. It is a driving force. It is faith based, so to speak, and while it can leave one vulnerable it can also be the most reassuring thing.

What’s caught my particular attention, though, is hope and how it plays a role in knowing and believing in Christ, and how that, in turn, affects my day-to-day life. My faith and belief in Christ produces within me a lot of hope. Because I can look back on my life and see where hope in Christ has led me out of many difficult times. My hope in God has enabled me to feel secure in this life, regardless of what hardship comes my way. Really cool thing! And I know I am well taken care of and looked after by Him. But this is definitely something I lose sight of often.

I feel as though there are so many things in this world that ask us to place our hope in it when, in the end, it tends to only leave us feeling empty and broken. Whether it be hope in a company, hope in money, a person, a thing, an idea or alternative concept, or what have you. There is no firm foundation to stand on. Things constantly change, shift, or just end completely. This makes it hard to know for certain if your hope in that particular thing will end in your favor.

It’s pretty frustrating, is it not?

This is what brings me to where my particular hope steams from and what’s been nagging at my heart lately. Prior to knowing and believing in Christ I put a lot of hope and trust in worldly things (and, honestly, I still do sometimes!) but I was always let down and disappointed.

I’d put hope in a person to fulfill my every need and expectation – that always ended badly.
I put hope in my job to always care for my financial needs – that would end badly as well.
I put hope in the plans I set for myself and, as you can probably assume, that didn’t end in my favor either.

The list goes on!

Therefore, due to the consistency in which things change, I’ve come to learn (and am speaking entirely from experience) that hope in anything other than Christ can leave one feeling pretty darn disappointed. I always wanted something more, something I could know for certain would last, and something I feel wouldn’t ever change.  I got a whole lot more than I ever could have anticipated when I started to learn and understand Christ and all that He stood for.

There wasn’t/isn’t anything about Him that was unappealing to me. Nothing about Him, or His message, that made me second guess putting faith in Him. He changed me completely, inside and out. Because of His hand in my life I’m overflowing with a whole new kind of hope and this feeling of fullness I’ve never experienced before. It hasn’t been an easy thing to do and I still struggle to fully put all of my hope/trust/faith in Him, for every, and any, need I have. But at the end of the day my hope in Christ has never left me feeling empty or disappointed. Ever. And that’s something that I can’t confidently say about anything else I’ve ever tried to put my faith and trust in.

Might seem a tad crazy at first, sure, but ultimately it’s the most amazing thing to experience knowing you can have 100% confidence in this one thing. 

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