I am selfish. I care more about myself, my comforts, my work, my studies, my joy, my happiness, and the way I am treated or seen by others. I should care more about the souls of others than ANYTHING about myself.
God has been showing me this often since being in Korea, and I am struggling through it each and everyday. That whole "dying to self" thing is HARD stuff! It's only hard because I'm focused on myself rather than the Cross. It's only hard because I love myself more than I love any other being. This is disgusting, not only to God, but to me as well. It should be disgusting to everyone else, but I have very graceful friends and family.
"Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!" Psalm 119:36
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence." Matthew 23:25
"but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." Romans 2:8
"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." Romans 6:6
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16
"But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:20-24
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Titus 2:11-14
"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." James 3:13-18
I went to Seoul Tower on Saturday night. Seoul Tower is in the center of Seoul, on top of a mountain, and stands maybe 250 to 350 ft above the mountain. At the top of the tower, there is a room that gives a 360 degree view of everything surrounding the tower. You can see for miles and miles. Every pane of glass has different cities written on them (in the direction the cities are located), and the distance they are from Seoul. At night, all the signs and visual pollution light up the night sky. You can see lights as far as the eye can see... except towards North Korea. It is pitch black. When I saw this, my heart broke. I wept for these people. There is no light there; no TRUTH. Only death, darkness, and despair. How can I be so concerned that I have to take a taxi to work because a bus driver wouldn't let me on the bus? HOW?!?! How can I care when there are people dying, and being tortured or starved by the only leader they know? They don't know LOVE. God is LOVE, and they have no hope for a relationship with Him unless we do something. There has to be something we can do, as Christians, to reach these souls for Christ. It has to be one of the spiritually darkest places on this planet. We need to do something. Right now, until their leader dies, there is not much physically Americans can do. We CAN pray. We SHOULD pray. We NEED to be praying. We need to stop complaining about trivial things, and get busy being concerned about the souls of this world. I am committing to pray for the darkened nations of this world, for the dark souls in this world. I pray they will know the Light, the peace, the grace, the LOVE that I know. The ONLY true LOVE there is. Jesus Christ. There is no greater LOVE than the LOVE of Christ.
0 comments:
Post a Comment