I will announce the winner of "Unfashionable" at the end of this post!Sometimes, we allow unworthiness to pull us by the hair, drag us through the mud, and smear our reputation. Unworthiness demands our attention. It craves center stage in our lives. Its aggressive nature steals the spotlight away from God—making everything we do all about us, not about God.
When we concentrate on personal frailties and imperfections, we scoot the reality that God alone is worthy to the back of our minds. Our focus shifts as we wade in waters of “unworthiness.” Consequently, it isn’t long before we begin seeking self-gratification rather than God-glorification.
We all have a tendency to focus on our unworthiness rather than His worthiness. Being worthy is God’s nature. Living worthy is what we’re called to do.
“To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling...” (2 Thessalonians 1:11,12 NASB); therefore, “Lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God,” (Ephesians 4:1, NLT).
How does this apply to our everyday lives? How do we live worthy? Ephesians 4:3 reveals the answer --“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” As long as we are united in the Spirit and our eyes remain fixed on the character of God, we will live worthy.
We strive to be a godly woman—because God is worthy;
We possess a spirit that worships His—because God is worthy;
We make the desires of God’s heart the desires of our heart—because God is worthy;
We give to the poor—because God is worthy;
We share the gospel and make disciples—because God is worthy.
God replaces our unworthiness with His worthiness. When this is our focal point, we are God-centered instead of self-centered. He alone is worthy of our sacrifice, our praise, our worship, our devotion, our complete surrender and our unashamed love.
“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased,” (Revelation 4:11, NLT).
The winner of “Unfashionable” is Melanie! Please email me your address and I’ll send you the book! Thanks for your comments. I enjoyed reading each one of them!
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations Melanie! But you are so right Kelli, we are definetly unworthy. But I'm glad it's not based on my worthiness! But instead it's based on my perfection and His Salvation.
ReplyDelete"We make the desires of God’s heart the desires of our heart—because God is worthy"
That's what it's all about. Good job my friend!
Very timely, my friend... my unworthiness gets me down very much like you described in the first paragraph. It helps to recognize that when I allow that to happen I become self-focused once again. It also means Satan is claiming victory over me once again. I think we think that God is going to somehow "make" us worthy and He will... in eternity... but as long as we are here we will deal with our unworthiness. Focusing on HIS worthiness is a wonderful tool that requires us to purposefully move our attention from us to God... right where it should be.
ReplyDeleteWow I have never won anything. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYour blog just touch me so much thank you for your writing. God is worthy.
I loved this post!! I have been asked to consider speaking for a women's convention of over 550 ladies. I have dreamed about this since I was 15. In the search for whether God would have me say yes or no I have concentrated on my worthiness. With thoughts such as someone else would do a much better job.... blah blah blah. In these thoughts I have focused on my worthiness rather than His.
ReplyDeleteSelf-gratification comes so quickly but the possibilities of what God can do are endless. Thank you for the reminder that it isn't because we are worthy it is because he is.