"I have doubts on how effective it is for a creation to know why it is created. That being said, frustration is guaranteed once I base my actions and reactions on how I define myself. There is a need to know my own individual role, and what I have to learn about myself can only come from my Creator. One thing that I do know is that because Christ saved me, as He is, so am I in this world.
Perhaps that's all I need to know. Perhaps it's all we need to know." - JB, 'Refine Defined'
Spoke to one of my mentors a while back about this topic. I told him that a source of stress and frustration in our lives is that feeling of not knowing our function, our role in a group, a community, an entity, or overall in life. He agreed.
I elaborated further by asking him, 'who does the defining?'
We both were in the same page in saying that it won't all depend upon what other people say. I asked him, 'then who does the defining? Me?' He agreed.
The topic switched to the message we will be sharing this coming Sunday over at church. It's a pretty exciting topic concerning the power of money, and how grace fits in our finances. Actually, the more we think and talk about it, we see that grace is the reason why we have and hold our finances in the first place. So it isn't just a concept here, either. We say that grace is a Person, Jesus Christ - and we definitely need to follow His example when it comes to finances, much as we would do well in learning more about how His love completely covers every single bit of our being.
In church, we have heard and declared ourselves to our neighbors and congregations that we are 'blessed to be a blessing.' I like how our Pastor Oscar takes it to a revolutionary level by saying something like, 'we are blessed, not for us to be better, but to make others better than us.'
That was just... awesome. Because of Christ's finished work, not only are we saved, but we also trust that in Him, the storehouses of grain are overflowing and open for us to partake of! This is seed. Now, we can eat the seed... we can taste and see that the Lord is good! But it gets even better... in Christ, we can take the seed, plant it, and enjoy so much more for ourselves, and for others... that ALL would see that the Lord is good!
We are blessed to be a blessing. When we bless, we sow, and in Christ, everything we plant grows! Every seed we plant, every investment we make will not go to waste.
If I was to know, believe, apply and live a truth about myself, it would be that I am in Christ, and in Him, nothing is wasted. This is life, and life abundant that only He can provide.
Halleluyah! We are definitely blessed in Christ!
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email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26