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\u2019m not gonna mention his name. But he is an ESPN celebrity. Let\u2019s just say that I\u2019m 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 \u201cman up\u201d daily. To go get ours. It\u2019s a day and age where we put ourselves first. And if you don\u2019t agree with us, we can\u2019t be friends. It really is an interesting phenomenon to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s 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\u2019t be honest with God. Actually, we\u2019re not being honest with ourselves. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what\u2019s awesome about our God as well. He wants to be with us through all of this. He knows we can\u2019t do it alone. He knows we\u2019re 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\u2019s a quote from something that I read: \u201cThoughts become attitudes and beliefs, and attitudes and beliefs become actions.\u201d 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\u2019s work on that. Let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019m not gonna mention his name. But he is an ESPN celebrity. Let\u2019s just say that I\u2019m not a big fan of his. Never have been. Anyways, he told the boys … <\/p>\n