Have you ever been like me, completely self-focused? I mean COMPLETELY!

Oh sure, I give to others, I serve at church, I volunteer in my community, I work and contribute to our finances, I clean my house, I love and spend time with my family and friends…but if you were to look at my life under a microscope you would see that I am SELF-FOCUSED. proud of this. It is not the CHRIST-LIKE behavior that I strive for. 

It is simply and purely the truth of my human nature.

My life under a microscope would reveal that I take EVERYTHING, yes, EVERYTHING very personally! I am far too easily offended. I give, and I am happy about it until someone questions my gift. I readily serve at church with enthusiasm until I receive a negative response. I volunteer in my community with a sense of responsibility until I turn it into an obligation that becomes self-focused. I responsibly work and earn money knowing it is good to contribute to our finances until I grumble and complain because of the strain on me. I clean my house dutifully, proud of keeping it in good repair until I complain because I am sore and tired. Most of all and easiest of all, I love and spend time with my family and friends with ease and pure, unbridled joy, yet I expect so much in return from them! My SELF needs their love back.

While you may be thinking, this is only natural! God created us to love “one another.” It is still a matter of SELF-FOCUS!

I admit Friends, it is tough to live our lives without SELF-FOCUS AND SELF-ABSORPTION! Especially in this world drawing us away from God and focusing us on SELF.

Do the terms, “SELF CARE,” “SELF FIRST” or even “SELF WORTH,” ring a bell? We are bombarded with these phrases. In and of themselves they are not wrong. Problem is, when we hear them and read them over and over again, they can easily become part of our DNA! They can infuse our very beings so that they become our initial and primary focus. When they do, they turn from being a healthy lifestyle to promote and sustain health and become a way of life. When we live this way we become SELF-FOCUSED! We live lives like I described. 

This year of 2021, we are striving for CHRIST to be our main focus! On CHRIST infusing our lives with His strength, His direction, His purpose and His focus. In a matter of speaking….

We are committed to living CHRIST-FOCUSED lives instead of SELF-FOCUSED lives!

Before you get, “SELF-DEFEATED,” take heart! In and of OURSELVES, we cannot do it! But Jesus Christ never intended us to do it on our own. Christ promises that when we give Him our “OLD SELVES,” He gives us a NEW SELF when we live in Him!

“MY OLD SELF HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME.” Galatians 2:20

It is possible to live CHRIST-FOCUSED lives, and not SELF-FOCUSED lives, only when we give our old selves(crucify them), to CHRIST and allow CHRIST to live in us!

TRUTH BOMB

GIVING OURSELVES TO CHRIST ALLOWS US TO LIVE CHRIST-FOCUSED INSTEAD OF SELF-FOCUSED LIVES!

We are in this together friends! It is a process only possible through the power of JESUS CHRIST living in us! It is DAILY.

The practice of putting CHRIST first in all we say and do is the first step forward!

Love you all and walking this path with you, step by step!

Speak Truth Love