I remember taking my son to a basketball tournament in Fayetteville, Arkansas a few years ago. They had a guest speaker for the boys. I’m not gonna mention his name. But he is an ESPN celebrity. Let’s just say that I’m not a big fan of his. Never have been. Anyways, he told the boys that they had to put themselves first. Put their desires first. Their goals first. He even questioned them if any of them were millionaires. He asked the millionaires in the room to raise their hands. Of course, none of the boys did. But the billionaire owner of Tyson Chicken raised his hand. Which was kind of funny. We live in a world where we are told to “man up” daily. To go get ours. It’s a day and age where we put ourselves first. And if you don’t agree with us, we can’t be friends. It really is an interesting phenomenon to me.
What’s even more interesting to me is how our Lord and Savior knows our hearts. No matter what our desires are. He knows our hearts. I think some of us have internal conflict where we are trying to pursue our personal goals. But at the same time we realize that we should put others first. And I think some of us also have conflicts that are just the opposite. We serve others, but our hearts are focused on ourselves. When we do it like this, we can’t be honest with God. Actually, we’re not being honest with ourselves. It’s kind of funny if you think about it. Because God knows everything about us. Everything! So that means he knows exactly what we are thinking. What we are feeling. What we are wanting to do. He knows it all.
Here’s what’s awesome about our God as well. He wants to be with us through all of this. He knows we can’t do it alone. He knows we’re going to fail if we try. So his grace covers us. Even when we have our hearts in the wrong place, his grace covers us. And that can help us refocus on what we should be doing. That can help us refocus by making us be honest with God. Being honest with ourselves. Here’s a quote from something that I read: “Thoughts become attitudes and beliefs, and attitudes and beliefs become actions.” Read that again. When I first found God, I had to learn how to refocus my thoughts. It was a struggle for me. Even today, there are times that I need to refocus my thoughts on God. I work on allowing the Holy Spirit to control my thoughts. That then helps me to get my heart in the right place. And that is something that he can do for all of us. Daily. So today let’s work on that. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to take hold. That will that help us with our thoughts. That will help us with our beliefs. That will help us with our actions. And that is awesome.
