Re-evaluating Your Faith and What You Put Your Faith Into.
“Let us test and examine our ways
and return to the Lord.”- Lamentations 3:40
Take Spiritual Inventory
We spend so much of our time listening to trends, opinions, and the like. Yet, we don’t focus on the only voice that truly matters: God’s. But how can we know that the voice is truly of God? Well, He tells us how.
“You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.”- Matthew 7:16-20
Thus you will know them by their fruits! You will know what is of God by what it produces in your life. For example, if your friend keeps pushing you to do things that end up harming you in some way, then you know that this is absolutely not good fruit. If a relationship is constantly tearing you down instead of building you up, then you KNOW this is NOT good fruit!
The next question we must ask ourselves is how we can make sure to cultivate the good fruit. Well, we must start with good soil or, in other words, a firm foundation.
“Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” -Matthew 7:24-27
If we plant in bad soil, the growth will be stunted, or it will have root issues, or even rot. This is the same for faith set on a foundation that is not firm.
As followers of Jesus, we are called upon to share His Gospel of good news to the nations. How can we do that if our focus isn’t firmly placed on Him? How can we do that if we are guided by every wind of opinion out there? How can we do that if our priorities are out of whack? If it doesn’t match up with what the Word says through careful study and testing, then it is not one we should be giving our focus away to.
Our time and energy are precious things. If we allow people, things, or situations to steal them away, then we have less of them to stay on mission, following God’s path for our lives. How many times have you known a person who is a literal energy sucker? I have! We can’t be there for everyone. We can’t even help everyone, everything, or every situation. It makes it impossible to truly focus on priorities. But that is why God gives us these warnings in His Word.
We are all called to harvest the good fruit in good soil with a good foundation.
“Then he said to his disciples, “’The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'”- Matthew 9:37-38
We are meant to be the laborers in this scripture. We are to share the Gospel, to build up His community, to be a three-braided cord with God. How can you be part of this if your focus is being pulled in too many directions? GET ON MISSION! If God put a call upon your life, then stay on it. Don’t give up!
Where is your focus?!
The Bible Project came out with a great podcast recently titled “What Jesus Says About Anxiety.” You can listen to the full episode below. But the main takeaway is that Jesus teaches that the path to a peaceful mindset is that which we pay attention to.
We lose ourselves to negativity. I can prove that to you. I could say nice things to you every day for a week, except one day I say something not so nice. You will remember the negative statement rather than all the niceties I said before and after. We hold onto the bad. We fixate on it. We lose the focus on the good by one instance of bad in our lives. This is the point; we hold onto what we pay attention to, what holds our focus. It pours into us. So if we want to become a certain way, we have to put our focus into things that cultivate it within us. Be around people who bring it out. Take part in activities that cause us to grow. REMOVE that which does none of these things.
Set your mind on divine things. To have the right focus, it starts with God. FIX YOUR PRIORITIES!
Amen?
I pray this message blesses and keeps you.
-Pastor Alex