Who is your focus on?

All too often we look to the lifestyle, actions and reactions of other people around us to justify and measure our level of Christianity or our stage of righteousness, we forget that all human beings are just that, humans; and as humans we are all capable of falling, of making mistakes (both big and small ones), none of us are perfect.  It is time that we realised that Jesus Christ is the only true measure of Christianity, He is our yardstick, the standard that each and every Christian should strive to live by and the best thing is that Christ cares for all those who trusts in Him and He will not ever lead us astray.

When our focus is on Christ rather than on other people we stand a much better chance of living a righteous life, no-one says it is going to be easy but Christ says that if we allow Him to captain our boat - not be co-captain like most of us have been doing – but rather to take full and total control of our lives then he will continually lead us in our ways and show us the right path to take every step of the way.

Have you compared yourself to others in the past, perhaps thinking “why should I worry about that, Miss A doesn’t seem to be worrying about it” or “I can’t do that, Mrs B would never in a million years do something like that, it’s unholy”.   Oftentimes the people we see and think are (a) some of the most pure Christians (b) the most unrighteous people we have ever come across are not actually what we think.  Remember, we as humans look on the outside of the person but Christ looks inwardly to our heart.  We do not have the capability of knowing what goes on in the heart of the people we come across and so it is not possible to know how righteous one person is from another.  As a result of this, why even try, why bother to worry yourself and compare yourself to another human being when you really do not know what they are REALLY like.  

Christ has shown us who He is, what He is like, throughout His 33 years of life especially the last 3 years He lived as an example of how we should be, how we should act, how we should react, how we should love God, our neighbours (even the stranger on the street) and ourselves.  Christ is the manual for our lives, and we are blessed to have that manual in written form (the BIBLE), and in spiritual form (the HOLY SPIRIT).  We really should not need to look to others, nor let others affect us adversely when living our lives for Christ. 

In all this I am not saying that it is wrong to listen to and heed godly advice, but whenever advice, or prophesy or word of knowledge is sent our way (even this article that you are reading now) we need to go back to God and seek His face concerning this and if the Holy Spirit and the word of God convicts you, then take heed of the word that came your way.  We have to be as sheep who follow their shepherd, Christ is our shepherd, so we need to remain constantly intone with Him so that when He speaks to us, we will be able to hear His voice and in so doing be able to put His direction into action in our lives.

Let us remember that Christ is the Chief Cornerstone, He was chosen by God to be the foundation of this world so that all that was built on top of this foundation would be stable and fit for purpose.  So long as Christ is your foundation, your focus, your armour, your go-to-guy you can never go far wrong.

Remain blessed

Mediate on; 1 Peter 2:6; Isaiah 28:16; Nahum 1:7; John 10:14; 1 Corin 8:3

Insecure in yourself?...Locate who you are in Christ and confidence follows

When we are insecure in ourselves, we tend to experience a lot of doubts about ourselves and others, we fear things, situations, feelings that otherwise we wouldn’t, we are not confident or certain in anything, we often demonstrate uneasiness or have feelings of anxiety…all in all, we don’t live as though we have a secure footing in this word.

It may sound like I’m being a little over the top but from experience I know that insecurity is a debilitating disease which if left unaddressed can cause crippling effects in our lives.  We often use coping mechanisms like humour, shyness or pretend-confidence to try and mask our insecurity but below the outer shell, our insecurities slowly but surely eat away at us.  It’s no easy ride living inside a shell, pretending to be something that we are not, constantly having to portray a persona that we think fits into the world we live in, so we need to find ways to keep insecurity from dominating our life.

To battle insecurity our greatest weapon is SECURITY and to obtain security we need to first look at THEOLOGY.  Surprised…you may very well be but theology allows us to identify who we are - now not the theology which says memorise some bible verses and repeat them 6 times every morning, but rather the theology which says know the bible verses so well that they are ingrained into your mind, heart and soul, believe in the verses wholeheartedly and begin to walk in them without an iota of doubt.  The theology which allows you to have a family relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ so that together we can all build each other up.  The theology which says you do not need to have a pastor pray for you before God hears you but rather the one that encourages and even insists upon you have a personal intimate relationship with God for yourself.

Our security comes from knowing who we are in Christ, believing that we are His children by His grace and mercy who were created for His glory and having faith that what God has pre-ordained prior to our conception will SURELY come to pass in our lives.

Do you know who you are in Christ?  Do you believe that you are a young lady who is searching for love, because no-one – not parents, friends, so called boy-friend – has every truly loved you, or do you believe that you are a daughter of God, who he promises to lead (2 Cor 6:18) and whom He loves with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3); do you believe you are worth nothing, just roaming around trying to make ends meet or do you believe you are an heir with Christ Jesus (Rom 8:17) and so your FATHER is the God who ALL the earth and its fullness belongs to (Psalm 24:1); do you believe you have done too much wrong for God to love and want to use you or do you believe that God wants to set you apart from this world for His glory (2 Cor 6:17) and sees you as part of a holy nation who He wants to use to show forth His glory (1 Pet 2:9). 

If you are God’s child, adopted through your repentance and acceptance and by God’s kindness and mercy then all the positives above refer to YOU.  If the positives confuse you and you still can’t believe it, I encourage you to start reading and meditating on the word of God, start having conversations with your Father (praying) and allowing the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide you; by doing this, you will begin to believe in what you are hearing and you will walk in confidence…that is security.

Meditate on: 2 Corinthians 6:17, Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:17, Psalm 24:1, 1 Peter 2:9