This ' DYING to SELF ' is about To KILL Me

In the Bible, where it says," I affirm , by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, die daily." 1 Corinthians 15:31, made me again feel like I am missing the mark as a Christian.

We are supposed to die to our present lives, our sinful nature , and become more Christ-like. That means being less selfish ( guilty), less concerned with my needs over other's needs ( guilty ), and being a servant to our fellow man ( guilty ). It also means that we are supposed to put aside our wants and desires, even ' needs' , and allow God to show us what is best for us.

That made me think of our beautiful, goofy dog and her chocolate-chip muffin obsession.

 

Every school day morning I make my son chocolate chip muffins ( I sneak an egg & milk in them as he won't touch either normally), and I put them in his lunch box with his lunch. Every morning our black lab stands there and watches me and hopes quite earnestly, that THIS is the morning I will accidentally drop a muffin,

So she can eat it.

She has done this for 4 years straight.

No dropped muffins, but that does not deter her yet.

She just looks at me, waiting.

Just like we do with God, waiting for our prayers to be answered.

Now I know she does not NEED that muffin, she only THINKS in her little brain that she needs it...but she wants it SO bad...and I just look at her and know that I am not going to give her one. She looks at me while I'm stirring the batter, she looks at me while I put them in the pan, she looks at me when the timer goes off and they are ready.

She looks , hopes, and DROOLS.

She has no idea that they are NOT necessary for her life, they are not good for dogs, I have something better for her soon...she wants them NOW.

She NEEDS them. 

 

Just like we look to God.

We are like that , we want what we want when we see it, think about it, and we do not understand why GOD does not give it to us.

Now some things , sinful things, we KNOW why He does not allow us to grasp...or if we do , then He speaks to us in that still small voice, " Stop, turn back, that is not necessary for your happiness or your life. "

But many of us, still kicking and screaming ( or whining ), say back to God,

" But this or that is IMPORTANT, NECESSARY, I NEED it. "

Just like my dog , we do not understand WHY ?

But some things that are not sinful, simply OUR dreams and hopes, our needs...He allows to either put on hold or allow to never happen. 

That predicament can cause us to not trust God, not know for certain that He hears us.

 We also can ignore God if we cannot mentally figure out why He wants us to do something other than what we want to do or not do.

Jesus explains it to His disciples:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:24-25

So we are supposed to put aside, place in second , our hopes, dreams and desires and let God's glory be paramount.

To do this, we have to learn, through reading the Bible and lots of prayer, that God's plan for our lives is far superior to our plans.

His vision, far superior than ours.

His purpose is far superior than our own comfort,

as the development of our character, to be more like Him,

will bring us the greatest joy ,

eventually.

Our timeline, is usually not God's timeline, and that is where the trust factor comes into play.

Trusting God has always been a big challenge for me. I am a stubborn, strong-willed woman who does not want anyone in charge of my life but me.

Even God.

That mindset has to change if I am to grow into the Woman God wants me to be,

That He knows I can be.

That He can use.

I just need to die to self daily, bite my tongue more, put other's needs above my own more, and watch for more opportunities to bless. Saying that, is easier to say than to do. The easier thing to do in most circumstances is to take care of yourself first, to oftentimes NOT put others needs before yours.

Selfishness, ME-mentality reins in the World.

Gonna shake myself up and out of that pattern.

I will write more about my attempts to learn to trust God in other articles,

I hope you grow in your spiritual journey and learn more about God this week,

Blessings,

Gina

Miss Spoiled rotten Black Lab

 

" Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do; Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free, This is the pathway of blessing for me. "

Hymn by Thomas O. Chisholm

early 1900's 

Of SPINNING Dogs & SELF-Discipline

I have a spinning dog named Maxine. She is an out of control, undisciplined, spinning dog.

She is a large black lab, my husband adores her, our son considers her his best friend/com padre'...and I am her baby-sitter-mom most days. When I take her for her walks, early evening usually...she takes the leash and runs in every yard for the first block....

and spins,

 

Taking the leash and spinning, out of control in circles... 2-3 minutes at a time

Getting ready for another spin

In our next door neighbor's yard...our little cowgirl dog

Neighbors comment and laugh at her, people driving by laugh at her, she looks like a rodeo cowgirl dog, spinning in circles...whipping her leash the entire time along with her.

Not only does she spin, she DRAGS me down the street, for blocks. Yes I do have a choke on her...and let me tell you, I use it. She is just so darned happy all the time, that she doesn't care. She probably only weighs about 20 lbs. less than me, and it is a major feat to control her. I am one of those people you see that the neighbors say, " Who's walking who ?" hahaha, NOT.

 

My son trying to hold her back

She not only spins and drags me, she also tries to fight any dog we run into...10 lbs. to 130 lbs., they are all the same to her. I usually have to choke her ( use the choker ), hold her back, apologize to people for her behavior, get physically on top of her & scold her, she COULD care less, she is happy being out of control and undisciplined.

Kind of like we all are, right ?

We all have areas we are undisciplined, mine are too numerous to name, I will just name the areas I AM disciplined to save time. I am disciplined about what I eat, and exercise.

That's it.

Everything else is a battle royale.

Food is not a huge deal to me, exercise is...so those are pretty easy areas for me.

 As another example , I am disciplined to a greater extent what I watch in the media, but I don't like TV, and am disappointed ( and fed up ) ,in what I see in movies lately...so it is easier being disciplined in something that really does not hold much interest to me.

It is way easier being disciplined about something that you do not really care about , or that you have come to a conclusion about personally that you do not struggle with anymore.

It is those OTHER areas, that test us.

I think we are tested with finances for some, shopping habits for some, saving habits for some , exercise habits for some, eating habits for some, worship habits, study habits, work habits & ethics, internal morality habits or integrity. I mean many of these are a piece of cake to many...and then they fail miserably in some other key areas of life.

I know I do.

 

Being dragged

I know that just being 'somewhat' disciplined in some areas, but not all the really important ones (like kindness, loving your neighbor, integrity, honesty, self-sacrifice, fearing God, tithing ,etc. ),   means failing in the self-control department.  Being a Christian means I need to be disciplined...GRATEFULLY disciplined in almost ALL areas.

God does not expect perfection from us, but He does expect us to strive for it. 

Otherwise we just get slack, start spinning out of control in areas of our lives that are our weak ones.

Obedience is HUGE to God , we do it out of respect for Him, and to demonstrate we understand the fear ( respect, reverence ), of Him.

He knows what is best for us, He loves us.

I love my crazy dog. I do what I do to protect her, to TRY to discipline her, I see what can happen to her if she does not behave...if she gets too out of control ( regularly), and if she misbehaves she can hurt herself or some other dog.

I see this, she does not. 

God sees the end result of our undisciplined, out of control lives before we even make the first mistake.

Cannot get the leash out of her mouth most of the time

I know God has given us the spirit of self-control ( self discipline ), but I think we all fail to use it in areas harder for us,  because it is easier ( or more fun ), to be undisciplined, do what we ' feel' like, do  ' whatever'  tomorrow instead of today, work on that bad habit ' soon', just basically slack off in the self-control department.

Especially in today's world, with all the temptations, all the excitements, all the 'newest things',  too many opportunities , we have a very hard time being disciplined about lots of things. Things that lead us away from God.

I also know that God tells us that if we have a relationship with Him, we will get the fruits of the spirit:

" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, SELF-CONTROL. " Galatians 5:22

So if we want to develop it more, we have to grow more in our relationship with Him.

We have to listen to Him, come to the realization that He really DOES know what is best for us. That He has equipped us to stand firm against the world, against our own flesh ( our desires ). 

Again this is something very hard for me to come to grips with personally, I like to make my own decisions , come up with my own solutions to situations or problems. I don't want anyone to be my boss or my keeper.

Even God.

But I do know something more important than that.

I KNOW that I need God. I KNOW that He can equip me to do the right thing in all  circumstances. I KNOW He expects this of me.

I know I love Him and do not want to disappoint Him.

I just need to stop being more like my crazy black lab , spinning around oblivious to anyone else

and discipline myself in my weak areas...

for me,

my family ,and

my God .

 

I hope you have a great day, and have strength where you need it,

Gina

" Never tire of doing what is right. " 2 Thessalonians 3:13