I received a clear message yesterday while reading my
devotionals. One theme emanated from both Sarah Young and Brother Lawrence: “Quit
your self-centered
focusing on others”! Neither said it
quite this way - but this was their shared message.
Sarah Young (Jesus Calling) wrote:“When you are around other people, you tend to cater to their expectations – real or imagined. You feel enslaved to pleasing them, and your awareness of My Presence grows dim. Your efforts to win their approval eventually exhaust you. You offer these people dry crumbs rather than the living water of My Spirit flowing through you.”Brother Lawrence (The Practice of the Presence of God) put it this way:“The most excellent method …of going to God is that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are able) purely for the love of God.
Now I don’t mean to present myself as one who is always
putting other people first as in the self-less way of a Mother Teresa. The
truth is way far from that. But I do
have a healthy self-centered perspective of thinking too hard and long about
how other people might react to what I do and say. It colors most everything I do and is definitely not what God wants. As Sarah Young writes, it is exhausting
and effectively dries up the flow of Living Water.
I feel a need to pour a second cup of coffee and pray for
a day of pleasing God; not pleasing myself.
Only then will His Living Spirit flow through me.
~~~
Now if I was only brave enough to stop worrying about what others think of me. It takes a lot of courage. Not easy when you were raised with the mantra "What will the neighbors think" about every choice you made in life from who you choose to date to how you dressed.. Guess I have to strengthen my spiritual backbone.
ReplyDeleteJane, I, too, have emblazoned - in bold - on my brain, "What would the neighbors think?" And I agree it takes a lot more courage than I have right now to discount that - but I am trying to work on it. I think this Brother Lawrence might be a help!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day, Jane!
This is SO good... thank you.... I needed that with my second cup of coffee.
ReplyDeleteBloggerly (and sisterly) Hugs.........
What a lovely reminder, Sandy! I have a friend coming and all I can think of is how much I need to do before she comes -- all to make home perfect. Really, she is coming to see me and that is going to be what we will do. Who cares about the house?? Have a blessed Thanskgiving!
ReplyDelete