Climbing Down from the Mountain of Self

Jesus clearly emphasized the foolishness of desiring the praise of men during His Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon on the Mount teaches us how children of God should behave, using three examples:

1. Giving to the poor.  When you do something for those less fortunate, you should do it in private so that others do not honor you for the act of kindness.  If you bring attention to the deed, you’re doing it for your own glory.
2. The hypocrisy of wanting to live your life for God, yet also wanting to be noticed for doing so.  The Jewish leaders of the time wanted others to see how “spiritual” they were – so they would stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners.  Prayer is designed to draw us closer to God and to intercede on behalf of others.  There’s nothing fake about it!  It comes from a deep faith and trust in God and is between you and Him only.  When prayer is between you and God with no selfish motive, your reward comes from God in the form of a deeper relationship with Him, as well as contentment and peace.
3. Fasting (going without food to focus and meditate on spiritual things rather than physical things).  When we fast, we should do it in a way that is not noticeable to others.  Fasting is all about denying our flesh and renewing our spirits, drawing us closer to God.

 Just as Jesus illustrated for us in His Sermon on the Mount, your relationship with God is special and between you and Him.  When we do things as God’s children we should have no consideration for recognition.  Being noticed by others is an empty reward – and our ONLY reward.  The true reward will come from God and fill a void that goes deep into our souls.  Do you show people your relationship with God, or do you show them God through your relationship with them?

Jesus made it clear that living a godly life with the goal of being recognized by others is something that God wants no part of.  Learn more in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

Running on Empty

Years ago I owned a car with a broken gas gauge.  No matter how far I’d drive, the gas gauge always read full.  I sometimes forgot about it and was fooled into thinking I had a full tank.  The gas gauge indicator was deceiving.  Several times I ran out of gas and was stranded on the side of the road.  Although the car looked fine on the outside, it was broken down and empty on the inside.

Doing good things in the name of God for self-recognition has no place with Him.  When you do, people will look to you and not to the Lord, and therefore miss out on the love of God.  When you put too much significance on your own importance, you promote a deceptive image.  On the outside there may be the appearance that all is well, that you are “filled up,” but most of the time you are just running on empty.  Self-importance provides little, if any, fuel for the journey.  You continue to try to fill yourself up with the fuel called ego, but it is quick-burning and unsustainable.

On the other hand, when you turn away from self-importance, you have the chance to be filled by the Holy Spirit.  Your tank will only accept the fuel of the love of God – fuel that never runs out.  As you continue to surrender to God and let Him take the wheel of your life, you will constantly be refilled with His love and begin to consider others as more important than yourself.  Not only that, but your life will overflow with love, peace and joy.

Ask yourself whether people see God through you, or if they see what you’ve done, your own accomplishments, and your own importance.

Do you know the 5 evidences of desiring self-importance and how to overcome them?  Check out my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

Shepherds Wanted!

Even though he became a very powerful man in Egypt, Moses wasn’t yet ready to be God’s leader.  First he needed to learn how to be a shepherd.  The position of shepherd was not a highly visible one, nor was it a position of great power or money.  A shepherd had one main responsibility:  to care for someone else’s flock of sheep.  He had to make sure the sheep stay together (something they do naturally), feed them and make sure they were well-cared for.  The job didn’t even require experience or much training.  This job gave Moses plenty of time to slow down his lifestyle and reflect.  There was no one around to praise him for being so great or important.  The pay just covered the basic needs of life – food, shelter, clothing, etc.  There were no fringe benefits or accumulation of material possessions.  He simply learned to serve someone else and care for their possessions rather than his own.  It was a way for him to lose focus on his own importance.

Then came the day that would change Moses’ life forever.  God appeared to Moses in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush and called out to him, identifying himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Moses hid his face for fear of looking directly at God.  God told Moses he knew of the Jewish people’s sufferings in Egypt and He had come down to deliver them.  The deliverance had nothing to do with Moses or his abilities.  God was in control and HE would accomplish the deliverance.  Once Moses realized this, he was humbled enough to be put in a position to hear from God – and be used by Him.

Evaluate how significant your own importance is to you.  Do you act with the goal of recognition?  Do you often tell people about your accomplishments?  Are you worried about what other people think of you?  Do you admire people based on their possessions and clout?  Your importance in anything should be measured by how God is revealed to others through you:  your job, your marriage, your finances, your friendships, your ministry, your athletic accomplishments, or anything else.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”  When you consider yourself unimportant, you get out of the way of the Holy Spirit, letting Jesus take the wheel, and God’s light will shine through you.

Learn more about how to let go of self-importance in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

It’s All About You…Moses?!

Moses was called by God to deliver the Jewish people out of slavery to the Egyptians.  But before he could do that, God had to get Moses’ ego out of the way.  The problem with Moses was that his life was all about Moses – his power, his might, his intelligence, his leadership.  Because of his important standing, he was used to making things go his way.  He took control and took matters into his own hands, then expected God to bless it.  He wanted to be the leader of the Jewish people so that he would be recognized as their deliverer, and he would be exalted rather than God.  To him, God was merely a motivating factor, not the actual deliverer.  But this attitude failed to achieve God’s purpose, because Moses was depending on himself rather than God.  Until he stopped putting importance on his own greatness, Moses was useless to God.

Like Moses, when we try to take matters into our own hands or walk ahead of God, it becomes all about us.  But that’s a recipe for disaster.  Whatever it is in your life that you try to take control of – work, family, friends, recreation, even helping others – you need to relinquish that control to God and trust Him for the outcome.  What a relief it is to give every aspect of your life to God and let Him take care of it!  And He will bless you by letting you be a part of the outcome!  Don’t be like young Moses, who was a man of the world, interested in God, yet too involved in himself to make a difference.  Allow God to mold you so He can make a difference through you!

Dependence on God

I remember my daughter’s first sleepover at a friend’s house.  My wife and I had been expecting this day to come, but I still felt sad when we dropped her off, as though my daughter didn’t need me anymore because she was growing up.  My wife suspected there was a chance Jennifer wouldn’t make it through the night, that she would get homesick.  Sure enough, we got a late-night phone call – Jennifer had a “stomachache” and wanted to come home.  I was very happy to jump into the car to retrieve my daughter.  The stomachache miraculously disappeared as soon as we got home, and I selfishly felt better knowing she wasn’t yet ready to spend a night away from home.

Children are dependent on the love and support of their parents, and they’re not too proud to show it!  The absence of this pride is evidence of their humility.  That’s the kind of dependence God wants us to have on Him.  He wants us to have the desire to spend time with Him and to be afraid when we’re away from His side.  But we tend to have it backwards – we willingly spend a lot of our time away from God when things are going well for us.  We might “call to check in” from time to time, but usually it’s not until we get into trouble that we cry out for God’s help like little children.  Even when we ignore Him, God waits and answers us when we do cry out.  But He longs for us to depend on Him more completely as our heavenly Father – continually dependent on Him rather than selectively dependent!

Do you depend on God in this way?  Deuteronomy 8:3 tells us to live by every word of God.  That’s total dependence for living.

Learn how to experience the freedom that comes from total dependence on God in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

Innocence is (Still) a Virtue

In previous blogs we have addressed the need to come to God with the humility of a child.   One of the reasons this is so important is children bring an absolute openness and innocence not (yet) tainted by the evils of this world.  Children live their lives with pure intentions.  Every hug and kiss is genuine, with no ulterior motives or selfish attitudes attached.  When a child tells you he loves you, you know it’s for real.  God wants us to live out our faith with that same openness to believe and innocent, childlike love.

Paul, in closing his letter to the Romans, told them he heard about their obedience to God, and rejoiced over it.  Paul said, “I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil” (Romans 16:19).  He recognized that there were crooked and perverse people all around them, but if they had innocence and purity, they would appear as lights in the world.

Obviously, there is no escaping evil in this world – it is all around us – but instead of being caught up in it, we must focus on the innocent truth of God’s Word and live our lives by it.  When we do, our actions will become less self-centered and more like the innocent intentions of a child, so we can shine for God!

Learn more about adopting a pure, childlike innocence in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

A Recipe for Greatness

Unlike many adults, children don’t desire power or ambition.  They want to listen to authority (though at times it may not seem that way to their parents)!  A child does not seek to be in a position of greatness, but desires to be led by an adult whom he or she considers great.  Only when outside authority is not present do children try to take charge.  But they just aren’t “wired” that way.  When Jesus encouraged the little children to come to Him, they came without argument.

The humility of a child is not characterized by selfish ambition but the yearning to have somebody else at the wheel, guiding them for their own good.  For us, the beginning of greatness comes when we let Jesus take the wheel of our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to indwell in us and direct our paths.

Let go of the pursuit of power and authority for your own sake.  If you are in a position of authority, treat it not as a way to gain recognition and reverence from man, but as an opportunity to serve and lead others to Christ, remembering that God is the ultimate authority.  Are you committed to listening to and following Him without any concern for our own greatness?  Let Jesus take the wheel and He will use you to bring the greatness for His Kingdom!

Learn more about how to release selfish ambition and pursue true humility in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

A Teachable Spirit

Children are teachable by nature.  Not only that, but they are eager to have an adult figure in their lives to admire and emulate.  Jesus, by giving His life on the cross, paid the ultimate price for us to be able to have a personal relationship with God.  His free gift of salvation is there for all to receive.  Once we receive it, we start to understand the great stories of the Bible, and all of God’s principles and truths found in them.  Like little children looking up to the adults in their lives for guidance and instruction, we too must look to our Heavenly Father, and allow these stories and truths to change the way we live our lives.

 

God’s Word is meant to teach and change us, to mold and shape us into the image of Jesus.  The molding process isn’t always easy, especially if you fight it!  But remember that God is always working, using every circumstance in our lives to purify and mold us to the image of Jesus.  Let Him have the wheel of your life and He will refine you and give you peace.

 

Learn more about what it truly means to follow Jesus in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

 

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

Faith Like a Child

It’s fun to get a child to smile.  It’s even better to get them to laugh!  I have always loved children, and one of my favorite ways to make them smile is by turning myself into a human carnival ride.  I grab their legs and back, turning them upside down, and then swing them up to my shoulder.  Each time I do it, they come back up with a smile a mile wide.  Of course, this activity makes my wife nervous; she is afraid the child will get hurt.  She doesn’t trust that I’m holding them tightly enough to keep them from falling.  But the kids and I love it!

Children instinctively trust and believe that adults know what’s best for them.  This built-in, simple faith helps them feel nurtured and protected and they accept this concept without question.  They have no concept of danger in the world, either – their minds are still innocent and pure.  What happens when a child gets a scrape or cut?  They run to their mother or father to “kiss and make it better.”  Once that happens, the child’s tears miraculously stop and he or she feels better.  Does a kiss really have the power to heal?  Or does the child innocently trust that if his parent says kissing it will make it better, then it does?

As adults, it’s a lot more difficult to trust in the same way because we think WE know what’s best for us.  We think we are capable of taking care of ourselves with no help from God.  When we fully begin to trust God is often when everything else we have turned to has failed and we experience for ourselves how He works in the difficult seasons of our lives.

God desires you to trust Him with the simplicity and humility of a child.  Do you rest in knowing that you are always safe in His loving arms?  No matter what direction your life takes, He knows what’s best for you and will always hold you tight.  He will comfort you and give you peace as long as you trust Him and let Him direct your life.  And He is faithful – He will never let you fall.

Learn more about discovering a childlike faith that will bring you closer in your walk with God in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.

Childlike Humility

In the Old Testament, Solomon, King David’s son, was appointed King of Israel when he was about twenty years old.  The Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Ask what you wish me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5).  Instead of asking for selfish things, Solomon asked God for the wisdom to discern between good and evil, so that he would be better equipped to judge God’s chosen people.  God was so pleased that not only did He honor the request, but bestowed upon Solomon riches and honor in addition to great wisdom.

Solomon knew he couldn’t do it on his own.  With childlike humility, he said to God in 1 Kings 3:7, “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.” Solomon realized He couldn’t rule over God’s people by himself and needed to be open to God’s counsel, just as a little child is willing to learn.

The key to letting Jesus lead is the same as what Solomon realized – it’s about coming to God as a child.    Solomon acknowledged he couldn’t do it on his own, compared himself to a child, and asked God for help.  In today’s world, that kind of childlike humility is not easy to come by.  It’s only too common to want to take the wheel of your life and try to steer in your own direction.  Do you have this mindset?  Or, like Solomon, do you recognize that God is the source of all wisdom and approach your relationship with God with humility and an eagerness to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life?

As Jesus explained, the humility of a child is what is considered great in the Kingdom of God.  When you adopt this humility and surrender the wheel of your life to Him, there is nothing you can’t do – and nothing He can’t do through you!  Giving Jesus His rightful place behind the wheel will free you to receive wisdom and blessings beyond comprehension!

Learn more about Solomon and how you can adopt the same childlike humility to grow in your relationship with God in my book Jesus Take the Wheel:  7 Keys to a Transformed Life with God.

Go to my website, www.letjesustakethewheel.com for more information, including testimonials, videos and resources for further study.