Deepening the Roots

The Lord has quieted me recently. A lot less social media time… a lot slower pace. One reason is the growing sense I have of great storms ahead in our country. I’ve felt drawn to deepen my roots in Him by spending a lot more quality time in His Word, in prayer, and in stillness.

And in that quiet, He’s been touching my heart and sorting out many things. Especially through BSF study of Romans.

When Our Hearts Want the Glory

One theme that keeps coming up is boasting: the pride that creeps up in all of us to compete, to be noticed, to choose the ways God uses us… the hunger to receive praise, glory, and honor.

This competitive spirit can creep into the Body of Christ — and into my own heart. We can even be prideful over our faith, our spirituality, or the ways the Lord uses us. This must grieve The Father’s heart. His love and might, undeserved grace kindness and patience should make us so very humble. Are repentance and humility among the greatest marks of a Christ follower?

When He works in us and through us, it is sad how easily “Look what God has done!” can become a quiet longing for people to notice us more and more.

The motives of our hearts can quickly become twisted from
wanting to encourage others & represent Him well and make a difference for His Kingdom….
into striving for glory, praise & honor for ourselves.

Trying to feel secure in how He is using us vs. secure in Christ alone.

We can end up being more focused on being *seen* as close to Him and enjoying the influence and admiration that comes with that …vs…. actually caring most about magnifying HIM and blessing others.

We still battle the flesh as we walk by the Spirit, and when these desires creep up, we must repent and turn to Him.

I do think social media stirs up these desires tremendously and we must be on guard more than ever.

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” – Isaiah 42:8

Am I trying to take credit for what belongs to Him? Am I robbing God of what is His!? Am I making an idol of myself?

I don’t ever want to claim glory, praise, honor that belongs to Him.
HE chooses how He uses each of us and we need to leave that in His hands.
HE gets the praise for how HE uses us.

Serving From His Love

Am I constantly striving to justify myself, earn His love, win the praise of others… or …. am I serving and working for Him from His love?

How much of my service is driven by love, and how much by a desire to prove myself or be noticed?

When we notice that our heart is not at rest… and these weeds are growing and the desires are creeping up…. we simply HAVE to run TO Jesus. Confess them. And die to them.

That old, self-righteous self has been crucified with Christ.
The righteousness we have been given is His robe around us – gifted to us when we accepted His gift of forgiveness.
Anything good He does through us is a gift of His grace. 🙌🏻

And Hallelujah!!! We have His lavish love!
In Christ, we are forgiven, justified, secure, and free.
We don’t have to compete for a place in His heart. 💕
And we don’t NEED more praise glory and honor!!! When we have The Creator’s lavish love!!!

Sharing Our Stories

Another symptom of these desires that shows on the surface is *how* we share our Jesus stories. Here are some questions to ask ourselves when we are sharing testimonies of our life or the work He is doing in and through us:

Am I glorifying my sin, myself, or my Savior?

We can describe our past sin in great detail and give too little attention to His grace and transforming work.
Sometimes our testimonies end up just being about us and our faith instead of our gracious perfect Savior.

So when we share… let us sort through our motives in sharing. Let us bless others by letting THEM share. And let us always point back to JESUS.

I know anything good in us, anything beautiful, anything that shines from our family — it’s all because of Him. ❤️
He has rescued us and given us life! Whatever light and life others see in us is thanks to Him.

So when I feel that hunger and pull for more affirmation, attention, or applause, may it remind me to run to Jesus — to be still in His presence and rest in His love.

We have all we need in HIM – and when we start to ache for it from this world or other people…. we have to go back to the Source of all Love and get our hearts right at rest.

He is the One our hearts are longing for.

May whatever I share magnify Jesus always! To Him be all the glory honor and praise! 🙌🏻💕