"Reality Hits Home, Again"

"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalms 27:10) Some of us need to be nudged a little before we can actually listen to what God is trying to say; my heart is in the right place, I just have this thing that many refer to as 'boneheadedness' that prevents me from listening correctly to what is being said. I know that we can do better than what we are doing, we have the ability to live out Jesus in our lives, we just need to get out of the way and let Him shine in us; it's just that we refuse to get out of the way most of the time, and therefore our present condition takes center stage! What the heck does that mean? you might be asking. First and foremost, our lives are not our own any longer; we have been purchased with a great price, and we are now the property of Jesus Christ; who is not only our Owner and our Master, but He is our King and our Lord. After having witnessed as many people that have been torn away from the church as I have witnessed, I can tell you something that many of them all have in common: they have let themselves take center stage, and have put their own needs, reputation, feelings, and even their own cares, far and above those of anyone else; and in so doing, they have neglected to let Jesus shine in them, because their selfishness has gotten in the way! Love of self, is what the Bible calls it! Just as with this verse we have before us today, when all have forsaken me, then God is there to take me up; so too, when we remove our present condition from being in the way, then Jesus will be able to shine into the hearts of others; and when I say present condition, I mean this fleshly body that is constantly seeking to be satisfied and to have it's own way. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." (James 4:10) It means that we forget about getting our way, and focus on the Lord having His way! When we put our cares above those of others, nothing good can come from that; it only shows others how little you really care for them, and sets ourselves up to be taught a lesson from our actions; unfortunately, the odds of actually leaning what the lesson is teaching you, is not in your favor; not based upon the numbers that I have seen. How is it that we are lifted up by humbling ourselves in the Lord? Because Jesus is able to shine in us; and when Jesus is able to shine in us, then those around us will not see a person that is filled with selfish wants and desires, but they will see Jesus caring for them, through us..."From whence come wars and fighting among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:1-4)