With Prayers, Sarah
Was reading in Psalms the other day and saw an interesting contrast in chapter 16. Verse 4 says, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god..." any other time I had read this verse I would have thought of the traditional definition of god, but this time I realized that this verse applies to us all with the word god applying to ANYTHING that we put before Christ in our lives. Wealth, prestige, relationships, etc. The sorrow in our lives will be great if we put anything before Christ in our life. Then verse 11 says, "...in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." When I read this the contrast was so stark. Place anything in the #1 spot in your heart/life besides Christ and your life will be full of sorrow. OR! Live in the presence of Christ, walking by His side, and live a life of joy and pleasures, Made me think ... what kind of life am I living? How does it show? Do I live each day in sorrow ... or joy? What about your life?
With Prayers, Sarah
0 Comments
While the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the second is to love everyone else. That leaves ourselves at the bottom of the list, as it should be, or God wouldn't have said it that way in the Bible.
This makes me think of a song I learned when I was a child that talks about how to have joy. "J is for Jesus for He has first place; O is for others we meet face to face; Y is for you and what ever you do, put yourself third and spell J O Y." I forget this a lot. Being a normal human being, I love myself, a lot. Too much in fact. I want my way, I want me to be comfortable, I don't want to have to worry about other people - even if it's someone I love sometimes - especially at a personal cost, etc. But I'm working on it. And every now and then the Lord reminds me that no matter what I'm going through, I'm supposed to be thinking of others. Because if I'm thinking of others, the Lord will provide for my needs. He just reminded me of this a moment ago. A dear, dear friend of mine is going through a rough week, I'm not going to elaborate. You're just going to have to trust me. I wouldn't want to be going through what she is this week. But I forgot, didn't even think of what this week might be for her, until I just read her blog. I felt horrible but suddenly remembered that last week I sent her a note, out of the blue, that I imagine she received some time this week. I'm not saying that note lifted her entire week or anything, but it was so humbling to think that even when I wasn't considering others, the Lord was working so that when I did remember, I'd already been able to do something. To send comfort and support in the best way I knew how. Would it have been better if I had actually remembered and sent a note that was more specific? Possibly. But since I was being a selfish human, that wasn't possible. So I'm glad that I was able to do the little bit I did. So, learn from me. Do your best to be thinking of those around you and what you can do for them. That is truly the source of JOY. With Prayers, Sarah |
AuthorHere you can read "Sarah's Thoughts". A blog by me! Just a little bit once a month, and here and there, about something the Lord is speaking to me about or focusing on a certain verse that I've found particularly interesting for some reason. You can also subscribe (below) to have them directly sent to your email. Just fill in your name and email and put "Newsletter" in the comment box. Also, please feel free to leave a comment on my blog to let me know what you think! I love hearing from you! Thanks! Sarah's Thoughts
Archives
January 2020
Categories
All
|