Living For Something Bigger
Something I've been learning over the last few days, that has sunk deeply into me as water does into a sponge, is the need for more discipline in my life right now.
"The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly."
"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him."
"How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond, and want like an armed man"
I feel this last verse is especially for me, as I have had plenty of days where getting up seems impossible. It's not that I'm feeling down, but perhaps the seeds of laziness have grown into trees and are now bearing their fruit. It puts me in a place, in my life right now, where I have to actively decide where to go from here. I need to consult God, because it feels as if, since I got to Dunedin a year and a half ago, my dreams have dwindled away, and I no longer am living with purpose, direction and determination in my life.
There are some changes I am now implementing in my life because I feel my lack of discipline greatly impacts the resulting fruit of apathy, laziness and neglect. Firstly, I am to give myself set deadlines to do things. For example, I am going to give myself one hour to write the results part of my lab report. This, I feel is a great need, as I have noticed that my attitude has rubbed off on the boys I am leading and if I am not acting responsibly with regard to being an example of someone actively living the abundant life in God's strength everyday then I should not be in a position of leadership. Secondly, I am now going to make a commitment to go to bed at 11:30pm on school days (save thursday night when I go into town to evangelise). Failing to do so in the past quite possibly has a lot to do with my fatigued state of mind and inability to get to university on time for all my classes. Thirdly, I am going to spend more time with God in finding out the dynamic direction in where He wants me to head. If my old dreams are dead, then it is time to bury them and allow the new dreams to take hold. But I want to make sure that my dreams are on parr with God's. "Trust in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" has struck a new chord with me, when a friend explained to me that God doesn't give us what our heart desires, He gives us the desires that our heart needs, which are in line with His desires, so that we can live a life with an eternal perspective. So, this blog was really just about how I'm going to change my life to start living for something bigger. If anyone still reads it, I want to challenge you: Are you living for something bigger? And if not, what changes will you make in your life in order to start living life for what you could be, God willing, rather than just waiting for it to happen?
"The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly."
"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him."
"How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond, and want like an armed man"
I feel this last verse is especially for me, as I have had plenty of days where getting up seems impossible. It's not that I'm feeling down, but perhaps the seeds of laziness have grown into trees and are now bearing their fruit. It puts me in a place, in my life right now, where I have to actively decide where to go from here. I need to consult God, because it feels as if, since I got to Dunedin a year and a half ago, my dreams have dwindled away, and I no longer am living with purpose, direction and determination in my life.
There are some changes I am now implementing in my life because I feel my lack of discipline greatly impacts the resulting fruit of apathy, laziness and neglect. Firstly, I am to give myself set deadlines to do things. For example, I am going to give myself one hour to write the results part of my lab report. This, I feel is a great need, as I have noticed that my attitude has rubbed off on the boys I am leading and if I am not acting responsibly with regard to being an example of someone actively living the abundant life in God's strength everyday then I should not be in a position of leadership. Secondly, I am now going to make a commitment to go to bed at 11:30pm on school days (save thursday night when I go into town to evangelise). Failing to do so in the past quite possibly has a lot to do with my fatigued state of mind and inability to get to university on time for all my classes. Thirdly, I am going to spend more time with God in finding out the dynamic direction in where He wants me to head. If my old dreams are dead, then it is time to bury them and allow the new dreams to take hold. But I want to make sure that my dreams are on parr with God's. "Trust in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" has struck a new chord with me, when a friend explained to me that God doesn't give us what our heart desires, He gives us the desires that our heart needs, which are in line with His desires, so that we can live a life with an eternal perspective. So, this blog was really just about how I'm going to change my life to start living for something bigger. If anyone still reads it, I want to challenge you: Are you living for something bigger? And if not, what changes will you make in your life in order to start living life for what you could be, God willing, rather than just waiting for it to happen?
posted by Rayd at 4:07 pm
1 Comments:
God is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of conditions.
So many times throughout Scripture we see things phrased in "if...then" format. This knocks fatalism into a cocked hat, because it gives us commands to obey to be in the position to receive God's blessings.
Fatalism (erroneously called "election" by too many Believers) comes from spiritualism, not The Word. God has already made everything available to us in Christ...It's up to US to move in and claim the Promised Land of the prevailing Word.
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