As I sat in front of the computer, opened my Bible and asked God what He wanted to speak about…so many thoughts and emotions leapt up in my mind. I felt I needed to look at the Word, and as I opened it up it fell to these verses…
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34
In this moment in our history…in this time on the earth…we are called to what we’ve been called to since the beginning of man…
Seek Him first.
Seek His kingdom and His righteousness…
That word…righteousness.
This is the hour to revive righteousness. At some point the word became like a cuss word because it was unfortunately tethered to self. Self-righteousness is a killer. It sabotages. It dishonors. It is jealous. It is sick. It is the antithesis of righteousness.
For most of my adult life I’ve observed culture take the selflessness we see Jesus walk out in scripture and turn it into selfishness. We are not called to be self-focused. We are to be Christ focused. We often observe the mercy that Jesus extended and use it as an excuse to sin…instead of an encouragement to live a righteous life. We use His grace and pervert it’s expression by becoming completely self-obsessed. Sure, we need rest and to tend to our own health, etc. but not to the detriment of our spouse. Not to the detriment of our children. Not to the detriment of our family and friends, etc.
As I continue to turn toward home and family, and away from position and being seen by the world…I feel so much freedom. I have so much more to offer my husband and kids. Suddenly, I realized one day, that I was becoming selfish. I had come into a culture that was drawing me to desire things that I never did desire before. Filling those desires brought nothing but emptiness. It carried a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and I was in the wrong place. We should never ignore these feelings. We should use them as a gauge to make a pit stop and reassess our current situation and ask God where we’ve gotten off track. Ask Him if we are where we need to be, or do we need to pivot?
Whatever group we come into alignment with does eventually have influence over us…is the influence around you drawing you into a deeper walk with God or is it drawing you deeper in with a crowd where you are not growing? Have you stalled out? These are such important questions.
As I pulled away from absolutely everything, I found His righteousness again. I found the simplicity of His gospel and the mercy of His heart. I found grace. I found a deeper hunger for the Word. When you walk out of your current stream and the things of God are what come to the surface, then it just might be that you were becoming unequally yoked. Being unequally yoked isn’t only experienced in marriage, but also in our close community…and that has everything to do with influence. Like I said before, when you are around a community all the time, then it’s inevitable that you will become influenced.
Today I encourage you to take stock. Look around and ask God if you are teetering on the edge of becoming unequally yoked. Whether it’s friends, job or whatever…ask God
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. Philippians 3:17-21
365 Days in the Presence 