It Starts With Me Recognizing My Worth

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

If you are tired of thinking the same ugly thoughts about yourself then know that being confident in who you are (inside and out) starts with you recognizing your worth.

Despite what society and social media tells you, your worth is not determined by how many Facebook friend or twitter followers you have, how much you weigh, or what sports team you play for. If we find our worth and identity in temporary things, then our satisfaction and joy will also be temporary. When we recognize our worth in Jesus, our satisfaction and joy is infinite because Jesus too is infinite.

Because Jesus paid the highest price for us, we no longer need to find worth in dating, appearance, popularity, or personality because we already have worth in Jesus. If you are struggling with insecurities, or are constantly striving to be more, weigh less, and do better so that you feel better about yourself, then you might not have recognized your worth in Jesus yet – or you may just need a reminder!

Think about what temporary thing(s) have you been finding your worth in instead of Jesus? Identify them and ask Jesus to help you see that your worth is in Him and not in these things.

Ultimately, wherever you get your worth from is what you are building your life on. If you want to build your life upon Jesus – the solid rock – then start by recognizing your worth is in Him. You can do this by paying more attention to what the Word of God says about you than what the world says about you.

Dear Lord, we pray that we would not base our worth on the things around us. Help us instead base our worth on what You have made us. in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

It Starts With Me Apologizing First

Ephesians 4:25-27 (ESV)

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

As Christians, we are called to live in unity and in peace. However, this is not always an easy task. Your best friend will talk about you behind your back, he may steal that girl that you were talking to, and your friends may not invite you to that party. Instead of turning on our friends and holding grudges against the people that anger us the most, we are actually told to love and forgive these people.

Matthew 5:22 says that in God's eyes being angry with someone in our hearts is the same as murdering them. By remaining angry towards someone, we give Satan a way to creep into our lives. Anger can steal our joy, take away our fun and steal our opportunities.

How can we fight to not be angry towards others? By apologizing first. Take the first step in experiencing more joy by being the first to apologize. When that one person is still causing you to be angry, you are just as much in the wrong if you continue to go to bed angry with them. No matter what they have done to you, they deserve your apology for staying mad at them.

Take a minute and think is there anyone in your life that you need to apologize to?

Dear Lord, just as we did nothing to deserve Your forgiveness help us to forgive our friends. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

It Starts With Me Letting Go

Mark 10:21-22 (ESV)

21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Being a generous person starts with us letting go of money as our Master. While money can do many things and serve many purposes, it should not fill the role of being master of our lives – that place should be kept only for Jesus!

We’ve probably seen a swinging trapeze act in a circus (or on Facebook or on YouTube). As the trapeze artist swings on one of the bars, the goal is to eventually let go of that bar in order to grab a hold of the other trapeze bar. It is impossible to be on both trapeze bars at once. The same applies when it comes to serving Jesus as master. Money and Jesus cannot both be your master because it is impossible to serve two masters at the same time.

With Jesus as our master, we are free to tithe and to bless others with our money because our heart is not tied to it. If money is our master, then we will feel like a slave to it, we will strive to get more of it, and when we have it we won’t want to let it go.

If we want to live generously then we need to evaluate who or what is the master of our lives. We can live generous lives for the glory of God only with Jesus as our master.

Listen to God and allow Him to direct your finances. If you are blessed with a job and are earning money, then a great place to start is by tithing on a Sunday!

Dear Lord, help us to give back to You the part that is Yours. Help us be thankful with what You have given to us and to be generous with it. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

It Starts With Me Handing It Over

Hebrews 10:17 (ESV)

Then he adds,“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

When someone hurts us, we like to hold on and harbor resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness in our heart towards them. If we want to experience freedom and healing from these feelings, then it starts with us handing all of that over to Jesus.

By holding on to something that has happened in the past we feel as though we have control over it and ammunition to use against the other person (or people) involved. True freedom can come for you (and for them) when you choose to hand it over to Jesus. He is the ultimate judge and will bring justice for everyone either at the cross or in eternity.

If you are in Christ, then Jesus has forgiven you of your sins – past, present, and future – and He no longer holds them against you (Hebrews 10:17). As followers and imitators of Christ, we should give people the same grace when they sin against us. This does not mean that we pretend like it didn’t happen. We should use wisdom and discernment, and not provide people an opportunity to repetitively sin against us.

Holding a grudge against someone will only end up hurting and hindering you more. Surrendering your pain and hurt to Jesus will allow you to walk in the freedom that forgiving others makes possible!

Think of someone who you are harboring unforgiveness toward.

Dear Lord, help us to hand our unforgiveness over to You.  Help us to not hold on to it! Hep us to trust You to bring justice to the situations, as well as bring peace and healing to our heart. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

It Starts With Me Not Giving Up

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

Fear not, for I am with you;

    be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Who doesn't want to change the world? Who doesn't want to see every coworker at work give their life to the Lord or every single kid at their school give their life to Jesus? It seems simple enough. What if it were as easy as you walking into your office or school and saying, "Who wants to give their life to Jesus?" and everybody goes home a Christian. When it comes to changing the world, the first thing you're going to learn is it's really hard. You're going to have that one friend that would rather keep partying, who week after week gives you a million excuses for why they can't come to church.

The change that Jesus wants to do in them starts with you believing it and not giving up on them. When things are hard, we can trust in the promises seen in Isaiah 41:10 and Galatians 6:9. No matter how hard it seems, God is with you, and He will strengthen you and help you. God promises a harvest for those who don't give up. So maybe trying to change your office or school won't be easy, but it will be worth it. Maybe you've invited that friend 100 times, but what if they finally say yes? What if they finally give their life to Jesus? Ninety-nine times you thought you failed, and then finally you reap a harvest. If you're willing to never give up, congratulations, you just changed your office or school.

Dear Lord, place at least one person on our heart that needs You in their life. Help us to not give up on them. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

It Starts With Me Fixing My Eyes

Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV)

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

There is so much to see in this world; so many things that draw our attention. Whether it is a YouTube video, a mountain, your pet dog, or your friends doing stupid stuff. There is no telling where our eyes will end up every day or at any moment.

Genesis 4:7 says, “Sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you but you must rule over it.” At any moment the temptation to sin can pop out in front of you, whether you were just trying to look through Instagram or walk through the mall. For this reason we must be ready to guard our eyes from anything that does not declare Jesus as Lord of our lives.

It is not sin to unexpectedly see something that you know you shouldn’t have, but it is sin to keep looking. We must have eyes that are aware of the traps of the enemy; we must have bouncing eyes. When the enemy throws something in your direct line of vision, look away. Realize the enemy's motives. He wants your life to be terrible. Do not let Satan's lies rule your life, because the “pleasure” he is leading you to is sin which leads to death.

When you have clear eyes, you will have a full heart and at that moment you can't lose.

Dear Lord, we ask You to direct our eyes throughout each and every day.  Help us to keep our eyes on the things that don’t cause us to fail. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Thoughts on surgery day

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Today is the day that I had surgery following the suspicious nature of my post thyroid cancer follow up. None of us like to hear the word “cancer” when getting a report from the doctor. After hearing the possibility, I dove into God’s word for the comfort that I needed.  Here are some thoughts God gave me.

Cancer is so limited...it cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot destroy peace. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot suppress memories. It cannot invade the soul. It cannot steal eternal life. It cannot conquer the spirit.

I love those words. They beautifully reflect the truth found in God's Word. Paul, facing physical challenges, could say with confidence, "We ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure" (2 Corinthians 4:7). The apostle, like you or someone you know, experienced suffering as an ever-present companion. Yet he chose to "fix his gaze on things that cannot be seen".

Paul's faith and confidence flowed from the treasure within him - God's transforming power - and the future that awaited him - eternity with Jesus. He knew that when this life was over he would be forever in God's presence, where there will be "no more death or sorrow or crying or pain" (Revelation 21:4).

When suffering comes, we can pour out our hearts to. He is with us in our pain. We can worship Him when He chooses to heal and when He chooses not to heal. But no limited thing like disease or suffering can ever separate us from His love. An ultimate healing, as Christian composer Wayne Watson puts it, lies just ahead. Today, fix your eyes on what can't be seen - what an awesome, breathtaking view!

Dear Lord, we thank You that You are in control of everything. Give us the strength to look ahead knowing that the view is awesome. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.