2 Chron 34:3
For in the eighth year of his reign while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David, his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images. ESV
- As a boy, he chose to make it his own. We all have to choose to follow God for ourselves. 1 Tim 4:12 challenges the young to be the example in faith…. what are you waiting for? We can’t let our age be an excuse for our character and our relationship with God or are lack there of. So start now. Make it your own and seek God with all your heart.
1 Kings 21:5-6
But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, ”Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” 6 and he said to her, “because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else if it pleases you I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” ESV
- Aging is unavoidable, growing up or maturing is a choice. He is a man, or at least an adult, but he responds like a little kid pouting because he didn’t get what he wanted. It is very easy to read the story and point out how immature this king was, but what about us? Sure, we age every year, but are we maturing? Are we still selfish, demanding our own way and crying when we don’t get it? Immaturity is marked by many things, but most of them are linked to selfishness, and refusing responsibility. Paul says he had to put aside childish things 1 Cor 13:11. This is in the love chapter. We are then told to abide in faith, hope and love. Walking in love is a choice we must choose; the default we are born with is very selfish. God, help me to not just age, but to grow in maturity and love for you and for people.
Ex 16:3
3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (NKJV)
- Your focus, not reality, determines what you see. You look through your heart, and it tints every picture you see. In their complaint they said, “We were better off in Egypt.” However, they complained when they were there too, saying “If only we were any where else.” Our choice of where to focus can always bring something to be thankful for or something to complain about. Prov 4:23 your heart is the lens that you see the world through.
- Since my focus determines which things I see and which things I miss, help me to choose my focus on purpose. Help me to always focus on the positives. I want to always be thankful. Help to remember how great my family is. Help me to always see the amazing things my wife dose. Help me not to take if for granted. Help me to see the time she put into making dinner because she wanted to impress me and the time she spent up with Beniah while she let me sleep. Help me to see the patience she had with me when I messed up what she was working on. Help me to see the love that she shows even when I can be a pain.
1 Peter 1:13
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. NIV
1. We need to prepare are minds Rom 12:2
- only when we renew our minds with His word can we see what He sees, only when we see what He sees are we ready to act as He would act.
2. We need to choose to be self-controlled.
– Self-control is a choice. Eph 4:26; 1 Peter 5:8
- Lack of self control is an open door for the devil.(Prov 25:28; 1 Cor 7:5) He is out to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8/John 10:10) so to be self-controlled we need to be prepared with God’s word inside so that it can come out, with our hope not in our strength but in God’s grace.
- Only with clear vision can there be restraint Prov 29:18
3. We need to fully set our Hope in God’s grace not our performance.
– Rom 11:6; Eph 2:8;
2 Cor 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. NIV
- 1 Cor 10:5. We are to take thoughts captive. Rom 12:2. We are to renew our minds. Phil 4:8 tells us to think on things that are praiseworthy. Col 3:2. We are to set our minds on things above.
- Our thought life is meant to be on purpose, not just whatever pops up. Am I choosing what to think and meditate on or have I been thinking about whatever comes up? This makes what I fill myself with so important. The things that overflow and that come up in my mind will be based on what I put in.
Rom 12:1
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV
- Reasonable act of worship NKJV
- 1 peter 4:1
- To be a living sacrifice means it will be constant work. It means constantly choosing to lay yourself down. It is such a bummer that you can’t just make the decision once and have it stick without any more work. I suppose in all the areas that I have made dumb choices, I am glad for a chance to choose again. I guess the fun of free will is that I constantly get to choose. It is part of what makes a relationship so great, is that constant choosing to be in relationship. God, help me to choose to put you first every day in all of my choices.
Prov 19:3
3 People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD.
NLT
- Stupid Tree Syndrome (blaming the affect of our own choice on others. Example is when you slam a door on your own hand and yell at the door.)
- Ps 28:5; 81:11-13; Prov 1:31; 14:14;
- God gave us free will, which means we have the ability to choose; we can choose to follow God’s will or rebel against it. When we choose not to do what God told us to do, His will isn’t being done. When we choose to do what He told us not to do, we create things that aren’t God’s will. Our choices can create enjoyment or pain in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
Matt 28:11-15
11While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. ESV
- Knowing the truth and living by it are very different. They knew Jesus had been raised from the dead, but instead of worshiping they paid the guards to lie. What do you do when confronted with God’s word and the need for change? Do you change or ignore it? Choosing to ignore the truth you hear will harden your heart (Heb 3:8; Mark 4:23-25) James 2:19.
Num 11:5-6
5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” ESV
When we look at the past through a complaining attitude we tend to have a glorified view of it. Back in the good old days, they were slaves in Egypt and got treated horribly. There is a huge lesson on perspective to be learned here.
First, things aren’t always as they seem. Second, complainers don’t see what they have until it is gone.
Even in the midst of slavery they could have seen things to be thankful for like the good food but back then they complained about being in slavery. Now they complain about their lack of food choices and mention their time of slavery as being great.
They just chose to think about the great things that they don’t have anymore, and the discomfort at the moment of what they do have. Their perspective had the ability to make slavery and mistreatment look better then freedom and mana the miracle of food being given to them everyday straight from heaven. We can choose to be thankful or to complain no matter where we are at in life. God wants us to always be thankful.Phil 2:14; 4:11;
Phil 3:17
Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. NKJV
- Examples are so important. We shape our lives by a model or models, the models we saw in our parents, on TV or movies, in our friends, bosses, church leaders, or whoever we chose to look up to. What model are you shaping your life after? We need to choose carefully, to follow God’s word and find Godly examples that we can look up to Ps 101:6. Not only do I need to think about who I am modeling after but I need to be careful about the model I set. 1 Cor 11:1; Phil 4:9; James 3:1; Show us that as a leader I am to be a model people can follow. I need to be growing so following me can take people closer to God. God will ask me what I have done with the influence he has given me.
