Day 3 (01/28/15): Phil 4:4-7 was my first set of verses and I'm still reading them each day and working through them. However, I had another one come to mind yesterday and this morning that I thought I'd share. This has been my focus today as I've sought to keep giving control of my life and circumstances to God today instead of trying to keep that control for myself.
Colossians 3:17: says that whatever we do, whether we are actually doing something or just saying something, we are to do it in the name of Jesus and while giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus. So....what?
Well, if we are to do everything in Jesus name, then I need to evaluate if the things I'm saying or the things I'm doing would be things that Jesus would be alright with me putting his name on them. So i asked myself: Am I working in the name of Jesus? Am I driving (and/or raging) in the name of Jesus? Am I getting frustrated with co-workers in the name of Jesus? Am I being empathetic towards my co-workers in the name of Jesus? Am I coming home and engaging with my family in the name of Jesus? See. It should be as all-encompassing as it sounds in the verse. It just isn't most of the time. What a difference it would make if I did this more... Well, it was my goal to focus on it today and I really believe that it helped me to focus on my control-issues more and give more things and instances over to God.
Now, the part about giving thanks to God the Father. Well, you can't give thanks to God while sinning, that seems common sense. You also can't give thanks to God when you aren't consciously thinking about him at all through out the day. Because then we are just passively living our day and not really focusing on anything...or at least anything but ourselves. Think about it. Living passively (spiritually) just means that we aren't focused on God. If we aren't focused on God, we will naturally focus on ourselves. Even if we focus on other people in our lives or other things, we will be doing it for our own reasons. Taking the time to thank God while we do things in the name of Jesus forces us to be conscientious about what we are saying and doing and keeping them in line with what we know about God and Jesus from the Bible.
This actually ties in with the Philippians passage really well. If you read the punctuation correctly, the reason we don't have to be anxious about anything is because the Lord is at hand. Literally, it means, because the Lord is close at hand. That is, here is near us. So, we then don't have to be anxious, and we can be reminded to be thankful, to rejoice in the Lord, and to give thanks to God.
Man, it was a sobering day, to say the least. It's much easier to type here and have these deep thoughts, than it is to go out and actually remember to think about, praise, and rejoice in the God of the universe.
Colossians 3:17: says that whatever we do, whether we are actually doing something or just saying something, we are to do it in the name of Jesus and while giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus. So....what?
Well, if we are to do everything in Jesus name, then I need to evaluate if the things I'm saying or the things I'm doing would be things that Jesus would be alright with me putting his name on them. So i asked myself: Am I working in the name of Jesus? Am I driving (and/or raging) in the name of Jesus? Am I getting frustrated with co-workers in the name of Jesus? Am I being empathetic towards my co-workers in the name of Jesus? Am I coming home and engaging with my family in the name of Jesus? See. It should be as all-encompassing as it sounds in the verse. It just isn't most of the time. What a difference it would make if I did this more... Well, it was my goal to focus on it today and I really believe that it helped me to focus on my control-issues more and give more things and instances over to God.
Now, the part about giving thanks to God the Father. Well, you can't give thanks to God while sinning, that seems common sense. You also can't give thanks to God when you aren't consciously thinking about him at all through out the day. Because then we are just passively living our day and not really focusing on anything...or at least anything but ourselves. Think about it. Living passively (spiritually) just means that we aren't focused on God. If we aren't focused on God, we will naturally focus on ourselves. Even if we focus on other people in our lives or other things, we will be doing it for our own reasons. Taking the time to thank God while we do things in the name of Jesus forces us to be conscientious about what we are saying and doing and keeping them in line with what we know about God and Jesus from the Bible.
This actually ties in with the Philippians passage really well. If you read the punctuation correctly, the reason we don't have to be anxious about anything is because the Lord is at hand. Literally, it means, because the Lord is close at hand. That is, here is near us. So, we then don't have to be anxious, and we can be reminded to be thankful, to rejoice in the Lord, and to give thanks to God.
Man, it was a sobering day, to say the least. It's much easier to type here and have these deep thoughts, than it is to go out and actually remember to think about, praise, and rejoice in the God of the universe.
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