Do They See Jesus In Me?

Well, currently I have been having a "study night" tonight, but I'm taking a little break to blog :P ...anyways I was listening to some music and one song in particular (Do They See Jesus In Me? by Joy Williams) stuck out to me. Here are the lyrics:

Is the face that I see in the mirror

the one I want others to see

Do I show in the way that I walk in my life

The love that You've given to me

My heart's desire is to be like You

In all that I do, all I am

Do they see Jesus In Me

Do they recognize Your face

Do I communicate Your love, and Your grace

Do I reflect who You are

In the way I choose to be

Do they see Jesus In Me

It's amazing that you'd ever use me

But use me the way You will

Help me to hold out a heart of

compassionate grace

A heart that You're spirit fills

May I show forgiveness and mercy

The same way You've shown it to me

Now I want to show all the world who You are

The reason I live and breathe

So You'll be the One that they see

When they see me

Just think about those words in the chorus for a minute - "Do they see Jesus in me? Do I communicate Your love and Your grace? Do I reflect who You are in the way I choose to be?" Let these words sink into our mind and your heart and ask yourself, "Is this true in my life?" If not, should it be? Absolutely! We as believers are kind of like mirrors in that we reflect the light of Christ to the world (or at least we should be) Our actions determine what's really in our hearts and if we truly love the Lord it will be evident in our lives. 1 John 3:10 says "By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." I mentioned this in my last post about practicing righteousness - it is a mark of a true believer. Look at the fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control". Guess what? These fruits should also be evident in a believer's life. Look at 2 Peter 1:5-10:

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if your practice these qualities you will never fall.

Look at what it says in vs. 8 - "for if these qualities are yours and are increasing..." Key word here is 'increasing' - meaning you continue to practice and develop and perfect these qualities throughout your whole sanctification process. We must "be doers of the Word, and not hearers only..." James 1:22. Doing requires action and action shows what's in your heart. You either love God or love the world. Luke 16:13 says "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'" Matthew 22:37. And finally 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things in the world." - Which one are you going to choose? Can others see Jesus in you?

1 John

I want to share with y'all (whoever reads this) what I am studying in God's Word. Recently I read the book How to Study the Bible by John MacArthur - a very good book, I highly recommend it. In it, he suggested that you read through the Old Testament in one year (approx. 20 min. a day) and for the New Testament read a book for 30 days straight and take a note card and write the major theme of each chapter, and switch between a short book and a longer book. He also said that for the longer books, you can split them up into different sections, for example the book of John can be split up into 3 sets of 30 days - 7 chapters per set. By studying this way you obtain a greater understanding of the book as a whole.

So, in saying that, I started with 1 John. What's 1 John all about? Basically, it is about living as a believer. It talks a lot about the characteristics of God's children. For example, the children of God:

• keep God's Word and commandments - 2:3
• loves his brother - 2:10
• does not love the world - 2:15
• does the will of God - 2:17
• practices righteousness - 3:7
• does not make a practice of sinning - 3:9
• confesses that Jesus is the Son of God - 4:15
• overcomes the world by faith - 5:4

Just think about this for a second... practicing righteousness. First of all, what does it mean to be righteous? To be righteous is to walk uprightly or in a right relationship with the Lord. In Romans 4:3 it says "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness." It goes on to say in verse 5 that "the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." Now, justified means to be declared righteous, and verse 5 says that God justifies the ungodly and their faith is counted as righteousness - notice at the beginning that it is to the one who does not work - it's all about faith. (but we'll talk more about faith another time). So back to practicing righteousness, only those who believe in God can walk uprightly with Him. If you look at 1 John 3:10 it says "By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God..." So practicing righteousness is an obvious character trait that marks a believer.

I also noticed how many times the word or any form of the word "abide" was used. It is used 19 times and referenced twice. That's a lot for only 5 chapters! There was abide in Him, in the light, in you, in the Son, in him, in death, in God, and in us. This goes along with the characteristics of believers because often it would say something like - whoever does this abides in God - marking it as a characteristic of a believer.

Anyway, that's just a little bit of what I've been learning. As I continue studying and meditating on God's Word, I hope to grow closer to Him and have a greater understanding of Him. He is all I need and live for.

New Blog

Well, I haven't blogged since September, so I decided to change the name and start over... I've titled my blog "Surrendered" as a reminder that everything in my life needs to be surrendered over to the Lord. He is in control of all things and knows all things, so why should I worry? Why can't I just trust Him? It's easy to say, but it's hard to do.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour yo his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like of of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

~ Matthew 6:25-34

This passage of scripture is such a wonderful reminder that we are not to be anxious and not to worry, but to faithfully trust our heavenly Father and to seek Him first above all else. This is my prayer, that I will trust the God who created all things, who knows all things, who is in control of all things, and who knows my sinful heart and yet still loves me enough to die for me.

According to "dictionary.com," the definition of trust is this: 'confident expectation of something; hope.'

I like this definition of trust. We have confidence in Christ that He died for our sins on the cross and He is omniscient and sovereign; and we have the hope that He will one day return again to take His children home. Since He is sovereign, why should we not trust Him?