That question is unfair as the Seahawks head towards another Super Bowl appearance. Well, maybe not. Let's look not at whether or not unfairness exists. In life, like it or not, the final say on unfairness is God. No, we don't get to define the word peculiar to our personal circumstances. No, we cannot use the word and definition to advocate what we want whether that be good or bad. We need to understand that there is more than "us". That being a beginning point no one on planet earth has been innocent of being unfair. Everyone has been unfair either to someone, something or God. Can't get out of that one! To tell the truth, we don't want fairness. We don't want the judgment of God to fall on us from fairness. No one would survive. We don't want fairness back at us as we project fairness towards others. The "truth" is not something we are good at dealing with, much less incorporating into our lives.
Rationalization and justification are twin friends most of us carry around in our backpack of burdens. With both of these powers being plied in our lives the margin of error in both directions is immense. They determine the amount of wiggle room we have in any given subject or scenario. Our rationalization and justification are our enemies and the enemy of God. The Word encourages us to look toward Jesus as the "author and finisher of our faith." We are encouraged to lay down our lives and let Jesus live life through us. Rationalization and justification on our part dilute the impact of Jesus in and through our lives making us ineffectual in presenting the Gospel to the degree that others want what we have. Let me ask a question. "If being a Christian were a capital offense punishable by death; would there be enough evidence to convict us and sentence us to death?" Are we serious about our faith?
We are a hypocritical people who want what we refuse to give. We want God to take care of our every need but refuse to be instruments of His peace. We want the answer from God to be "yes" to our every prayer. When we first genuinely fell in love with God we made a commitment to Him and His will; not me and my will. When I first believed, the focus I had was solely on Christ and his ministry through others and myself. Nothing made me happier than to see others choose to live a life full of Christ. So what happened to me? The short answer is I quit on God and I quit on others and myself. I could launch into all those things that took place in my life that did this or that. However, that would not serve the purpose of today's post. It's not to be about me. It's to be about Him. That is where my seriousness started and where it's been returning to. Some days are harder than others. Usually because I make them so.
If my focus is on making a living then that is what I am serious about. If my focus is on having new stuff then that is what I am serious about. If I am serious about sports then they will fill my life. Being serious about anything other than what God wants us serious about is a diversion from putting Christ first in my life. Here is the lesson for today. Should I focus on Christ and what He wants and is serious about, my needs and some wants will be attended to and finished. This frees up more time and effort to spend on doing what Christ wants me to do. The more I do for Christ, the less there is to be done in the world. Being unequally yoked applies to more than marriage. It also applies to how we are attached to what is important and what is unimportant. Christ is the only seriousness we need to live a fulfilled life. Other focus takes away the joy of the Lord.
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