For 'Me'

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Fill my consciousness constantly and complete Your joy in me as I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: Jeremiah 15:19 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” 

Verse of the day: Colossians 1:28

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Today’s reading: Proverbs 1-2 1 Corinthians 16

The Place For ‘Me’

In the Garden of Eden, Eve saw that the forbidden fruit could make her like a god(Genesis 3:6), so she took and ate and gave some to Adam. Now Adam could have said no thanks, but he could not let her be ‘happier than’ than he was. He had to have everything she had-after all, he was in charge, wasn’t he?

Everyone wants to be remembered-everyone wants to get ahead-everyone wants to have it all. All want to control their own destiny. Everyone wants to find their own happiness and in this world that means apart from God. This is the root of sin. Another word for this is pride.

Of course this is contrary to all that the Bible teaches. But we hear Jesus say, “Love your neighbor as you love yourselves.” This cuts pride down to the ground.

The root of our sinful pride is to be happy apart from God and to ‘do unto others as is convenient’-which means we are not about others finding their happiness in God.

Pride is is the pursuit of happiness anywhere but in God and negligence of the happiness of others in God. This is the root of pride.

Eve ate forbidden fruit thinking only of herself(“I can be like God”) and then pointed Adam away from God by giving him the fruit.

The enemy always leads away from God. Pride always leads away from God.

God always leads in love-the love that teaches our fulfillment in Him through Christ and it gives us that same love for our fellow man. God’s love leads us to want for ourselves what He wants for us and leads us to want for everyone else what He wants for us.

When we seek to love God, we become aware that our pursuit of happiness cannot be anywhere but the glory of God and sharing this truth with others.

This is Biblical ‘common sense’ which brings us back to discipline-everyday in the Holy Word and in prayer-our maintained consciousness of the Holy Spirit.

Are your habits of ‘seeking God’ good? Are they habits at all? How much time do you spend on your phone each day aside from necessity? That is none of my business, is it? But it is yours-your business and God’s business. He knows every breath you take and has done and is doing all to fill your heart with His joy and His peace that cannot be explained-it has to be experienced.

Tell God where you are-confess the way you feel. Tell Him you are tired of trying to find your own happiness away from Him and that you want His glory to be your joy.

...because He loves you, He will do it…

Father in Heaven,

I want to bring glory to Your name. I want to know your kingdom. Increase my desire to do Your will. Forgive me for neglecting others around me and putting myself first. Lead me away from evil.

God of all forgiveness,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen