Don't Compete!
Ah, love. I'm head over heels in love with God lately. As I've looked back over the past few months, the past year, and the past couple of years, I've been able to see the stages that He and I have been in within our relationship. It's progressed from me accepting Him as existing but disregarding Him otherwise, to thinking about Him once in a while but having no idea who He is. We then moved into a long season of Him prying open my fingers to take all of the things I was holding onto instead of holding His hand. Then, we went to counseling for awhile, so that other people could help me deal with the issues blocking me from Him. And now here we are! I'm madly in love with Him, and I miss Him when I don't get to spend enough time with Him. I'm still tragically imperfect, but we're in love and He's tenderly faithful to work with me and continues to clean my heart out.
In retrospect, I've noticed that every time we've had an issue it was because I allowed something else to compete with Him for my affections. I became distracted by something or some other person, and then I wanted to divide my heart and attention, and then eventually that lead to compromise and sin. Every single time, the heartbreaking final result was that I let something else come in the way of my sweet Jesus and me.
Thankfully, I've learned from this, and even though it blows my mind to be able to testify to this, Jesus brings my heart into closer communion to Himself every time I come crying back to Him. Even so, it still makes me angry to think that I let something compete with Him. Nobody as faithful and loving as He is deserves that, especially not the Lord!
I'm sure at this point we can all identify something that we've let compete with God in our lives. Money? Ambitions? Relationships? There's always something. For me, it was relationships. Now, I'm careful and I know in my heart of hearts that I only want to be involved with a man if it doesn't cause me to love my Lord less.
While it's not too hard to see the things that we let compete with God for our attention, have we ever stopped to think that maybe...we're the competition that somebody else is struggling with? Are you competing with God for somebody else's attention? Are you knowingly an idol of sorts in somebody else's life?
I struggled with this for a long time. I was so insecure in my relationship with God and so desperately in need of affection from somebody, that I used to get upset when a man I was involved with wanted to go after God with all of his might. But the thing is, I didn't realize this at first, because it wasn't an open problem, and I wasn't aware of it until I examined my motives that I saw I was competing against the Lord for this guy's affection.
For example, a guy I was talking to for awhile once told me that he never wanted to be married, and wanted to stay single and serve the Lord just like Paul. That's an amazing thing to want in your life! I told him it was an amazing thing to want in his life, and I meant it! But then I would give him encouragement about how good of a father he would be or encourage him not to avoid marriage because he was afraid of it. Essentially, I told him a bunch of things that would move him away from wanting to be a single man serving the Lord with all of his strength.
Whoa, I know, I sound like the worst person in the world right now, but I don't think I'm the only one who has ever struggled with this. This can be seen in so many ways and on so many levels, especially in relationships. For example: Are you encouraging your significant other to spend more time with the Lord, even though it means not seeing you as much? Are you doing that without making them feel guilty for not choosing you? Are you truly trying to present them as pure before the Lord, even if it means having to restrain your own lusts? (Side note, when we sin, especially sexually, we're never just hurting ourselves). Sometimes the sin here could be a sin of omission instead of a sin of commission: even if you're not doing anything "wrong," are you staying around somebody when it's not the best time for them to be with somebody? Are you refusing to move away from them and give God some space with them?
I would be so angry at anything that tried to compete with the Lord for the full attention of my heart, especially because in our weakness, it's so easy to be distracted despite how much we love Him. However, I would be more devastated to know that I was allowing myself to be a distraction in somebody else's life. I don't want to compete with God, I want people to love Him with all of their hearts. Not to mention the fact that our God is not mocked, and will not let you peacefully steal away His place in another's life. We weren't designed to compete with Him, we were designed to lift each other up to Him, strengthening and sharpening each other.
He helped me to overcome this by teaching me how to check my motives. I would read in the book of James about earthly, partial wisdom in comparison to Heavenly wisdom which is impartial and wants only what the Lord wants without regard to our selfish ambition. He also cleaned out so much junk from my heart and answered my begging cry to help me love Him better. Now, I'm not only content with Him, but I'm able to consider adding other things to my life without wanting to put them on the throne of my heart. I'm also grounded enough, by the grace of God, to not want to edge other people away from God. He healed me, and He can heal you too. Not only will you be able to move closer to God, but you'll be freeing other people to do the same.
When we're content with God, this process begins, and we can allow peace and obedience to grow. Protect yourself as well as your brothers and sisters in Christ. Each time you're tempted, remember that obedience has a much better aftertaste than rebellion.
He loves you, He helps you, He wants you.
In retrospect, I've noticed that every time we've had an issue it was because I allowed something else to compete with Him for my affections. I became distracted by something or some other person, and then I wanted to divide my heart and attention, and then eventually that lead to compromise and sin. Every single time, the heartbreaking final result was that I let something else come in the way of my sweet Jesus and me.
Thankfully, I've learned from this, and even though it blows my mind to be able to testify to this, Jesus brings my heart into closer communion to Himself every time I come crying back to Him. Even so, it still makes me angry to think that I let something compete with Him. Nobody as faithful and loving as He is deserves that, especially not the Lord!
I'm sure at this point we can all identify something that we've let compete with God in our lives. Money? Ambitions? Relationships? There's always something. For me, it was relationships. Now, I'm careful and I know in my heart of hearts that I only want to be involved with a man if it doesn't cause me to love my Lord less.
While it's not too hard to see the things that we let compete with God for our attention, have we ever stopped to think that maybe...we're the competition that somebody else is struggling with? Are you competing with God for somebody else's attention? Are you knowingly an idol of sorts in somebody else's life?
I struggled with this for a long time. I was so insecure in my relationship with God and so desperately in need of affection from somebody, that I used to get upset when a man I was involved with wanted to go after God with all of his might. But the thing is, I didn't realize this at first, because it wasn't an open problem, and I wasn't aware of it until I examined my motives that I saw I was competing against the Lord for this guy's affection.
For example, a guy I was talking to for awhile once told me that he never wanted to be married, and wanted to stay single and serve the Lord just like Paul. That's an amazing thing to want in your life! I told him it was an amazing thing to want in his life, and I meant it! But then I would give him encouragement about how good of a father he would be or encourage him not to avoid marriage because he was afraid of it. Essentially, I told him a bunch of things that would move him away from wanting to be a single man serving the Lord with all of his strength.
Whoa, I know, I sound like the worst person in the world right now, but I don't think I'm the only one who has ever struggled with this. This can be seen in so many ways and on so many levels, especially in relationships. For example: Are you encouraging your significant other to spend more time with the Lord, even though it means not seeing you as much? Are you doing that without making them feel guilty for not choosing you? Are you truly trying to present them as pure before the Lord, even if it means having to restrain your own lusts? (Side note, when we sin, especially sexually, we're never just hurting ourselves). Sometimes the sin here could be a sin of omission instead of a sin of commission: even if you're not doing anything "wrong," are you staying around somebody when it's not the best time for them to be with somebody? Are you refusing to move away from them and give God some space with them?
I would be so angry at anything that tried to compete with the Lord for the full attention of my heart, especially because in our weakness, it's so easy to be distracted despite how much we love Him. However, I would be more devastated to know that I was allowing myself to be a distraction in somebody else's life. I don't want to compete with God, I want people to love Him with all of their hearts. Not to mention the fact that our God is not mocked, and will not let you peacefully steal away His place in another's life. We weren't designed to compete with Him, we were designed to lift each other up to Him, strengthening and sharpening each other.
He helped me to overcome this by teaching me how to check my motives. I would read in the book of James about earthly, partial wisdom in comparison to Heavenly wisdom which is impartial and wants only what the Lord wants without regard to our selfish ambition. He also cleaned out so much junk from my heart and answered my begging cry to help me love Him better. Now, I'm not only content with Him, but I'm able to consider adding other things to my life without wanting to put them on the throne of my heart. I'm also grounded enough, by the grace of God, to not want to edge other people away from God. He healed me, and He can heal you too. Not only will you be able to move closer to God, but you'll be freeing other people to do the same.
When we're content with God, this process begins, and we can allow peace and obedience to grow. Protect yourself as well as your brothers and sisters in Christ. Each time you're tempted, remember that obedience has a much better aftertaste than rebellion.
He loves you, He helps you, He wants you.
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