The focus of my life: Me or God?

Too often I find myself looking at life from a "me-focused" perspective:
"What should I do?"
"What can I do?"
"What should I not have done?"

This tends to make me frustrated and worried, because it's a law-based perspective. I'm constantly putting myself down from not living up to my own expectations.

Obviously, living with this perspective is not the way to be content and joyful in life. Rather, I need to keep my focus on Christ:
What has he done for me?
What is he doing in my life right now?
What has he promised for my future?


In terms of my eternal state ("What has God promised for my future?"), that's something for which I fully rely on God, not on myself. I have been made of a child of God by his grace and saved through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ, which is a gift of God. My eternal salvation is not in question, and it is secure in Christ.

It's the day-to-day life that's a struggle, not my hope for the future. Satan tries to tear me (all of us) down: "You're such a terrible person. You never get anything right. God is so disappointed in you."

To counter this, we get to live in the knowledge that we are forgiven. God gladly and willingly forgives all our mistakes--even the ones we might think are unforgivable--and helps us turn away from our sins, repent, and turn back to him.

When I feel like I'm a "terrible person" or a "bad Christian," I remind myself that God sometimes works in and through me despite me! The Holy Spirit, living within us, enables us to live a life that's obedient to God and that reflects his love to those around us.

The ability to live a "good Christian life" is not something we find within ourselves. It's something God gives us freely, as a father gives good gifts to his children.

We cannot trust our feelings in this. Whether I "feel" like I'm a terrible person or not, that doesn't change what God has done for me. Our forgiveness is not based on our feelings. Neither is our salvation. We are saved and forgiven because of God's great love for us, shown in Christ's death and resurrection.

This is what I want to be the focus of my life!

Not me. Not my actions.

God--and his great love for me.

A sheep in the care of my Shepherd

Sheep have a reputation for being among the least intelligent of animals. Now, perhaps they're not as unintelligent as they seem (check out this article), but they're certainly not bright. They definitely aren't anywhere near as smart as humans.
Sheep stick together in a herd, and what one sheep does, the others generally do. They do have a tendency to wander off alone, and aren't always good at recognizing danger. However, they can remember fellow sheep and a few human faces (see the article linked above). When a sheep has one shepherd for its whole life, it learns to recognize the voice of that shepherd (see this for a bit more on that).

Photo Credit

The Bible often compares God to a shepherd, and his people to sheep. This was a familiar image to people living in both Old and New Testament times. King David himself was a shepherd as a boy (1 Samuel 16:11).
When Jesus was born, some of the first people to see him were shepherds (Luke 2:15-16).

Israel (Jacob) called God his shepherd. In blessing his son Joseph, he said "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm--may he bless these boys." (Genesis 28:15-16)
Moses compared God's people to sheep: "Moses said to the Lord, 'May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd'" (Numbers 27:15-17). (Joshua became that shepherd for God's people.)

The Psalms have many references to God as our shepherd, which makes sense since David wrote many of them.
Psalm 100:3 says, "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."
In Psalm 119:176 the psalmist confesses, "I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands."
And of course, the entirety of Psalm 23 is a metaphor for our life as sheep, being led by God, our shepherd. He provides everything we need, he protects us from harm, he corrects us when we stray, he is by our side through the darkest parts of life, and he will bless us to our life's end and beyond.

Several other passages in the Old Testament reference sheep and shepherds. See, for example, Isaiah 40:11 and 53:6-7 and Jeremiah 50:6.

In the New Testament, the best-known passage about sheep and shepherds is found in John 10. Not only does Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, but he is the gate to the sheep pen--the only way into that place of safety and rest. Anyone who tries to get into the pen any way other than the gate "is a thief and a robber." (See verses 1-2, 11, 14-15 especially.)
(For other New Testament references to God as our shepherd and us as his sheep, see Matthew 2:6, 9:36, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 2:25, 5:2-4, Revelation 7:17.)

Perhaps being compared to sheep isn't the most flattering comparison. But if you think about it from a spiritual standpoint, it makes sense. Without God's direction (especially through the words of Scripture) we wouldn't know where to go and what we should and shouldn't do. Without his voice calling us to follow him, we would easily be led astray by other distractions around us. (We often are distracted as it is!) God provides everything we need, protects us from harm and evil, and loves us as his children. We might not even know when we're in danger because as our shepherd, God keeps those evil things away from us.

He calls us by name, just as shepherds call their sheep. He knows all our faults and still loves us and cares for us. And when faced with the ultimate adversary--Satan--he gladly laid down his life so that we could live.

When I consider all that, being a sheep isn't so bad after all. I'll readily admit that I'm not always very bright. I make some really stupid decisions, and I often get distracted away from my Shepherd's voice. But he's always there to bring me back to the fold, to heal my wounds, and to remind me how much he loves me.

Now, on a rather humorous note... check out this video!

How I was saved, and how you were, too!

This post was inspired by this salvation story on natashametzler.com.  Reading Natasha's post and responding to it got me thinking about my own salvation story!

The story of my salvation doesn't start with me.  It starts with God.  God, who created heaven and earth and everything in them.  God, who from the beginning of the world had a plan to conquer sin and death (Genesis 3:15).  God, who sent His Son to earth to become a human baby, who would grow into a sinless human man, who would die for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16).

Image Credit:  bela_kiefer via www.freedigitalphotos.net

My salvation starts with the incredible love of God.  It's because God loves us--all people--so much that He has a plan for all of us to spend eternity with Him.

He gives us faith.  We become His children.  We believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the fact that Jesus' death paid the price for all the wrong we ever do.  We live a brief life on earth, obeying God and loving Him according to His Word and in response for the gifts He constantly gives us (in addition to the gift of faith in Him!  Wow!).  Then, when our sinful, earthly bodies die, our sinless souls are united with God in heaven, and spend eternity joyfully with Him in paradise.

This is what God did for me.  He made me his child just four weeks after I was born into this world.  In my baptism, the Holy Spirit came into my heart by the power of God's Word, and gave me faith.  It wasn't necessary for me to understand what that meant, because my saving isn't about me.  It's not anything I do.  God saves us, God makes us His children.  It's kind of like how we become our parents' children.  We don't have any choice to become their children.  And they don't love us because of anything we do.  They love us simply because they are our parents.  God loves us because He is our Father.

So I became God's child through the miracle of baptism.  As I grew, my parents taught me, using God's Word, how much God loves me, and what Jesus did for me.  And I knew for sure that I was God's child.  I knew that whenever I died, I would be in heaven with Jesus.  I knew that I was sinful, and did bad things, but I also knew that God forgave those sins when I asked Him to, just as my parents told me they forgave me when I disobeyed them.

Now that I'm an adult, I'm still constantly learning what it means to be God's child.  How does that play out in my everyday life?  God reminds me daily to trust Him in everything.  He has to keep teaching me how to accept His forgiveness, because I struggle with remembering that.  Satan is constantly working to try to pull me away from God, but I know that because the Holy Spirit lives in my heart, Satan can't hurt me.  Jesus has already defeated him and his power, and I have nothing to fear.

So my salvation story doesn't end with me, either.  It ends with the ultimate gift from God--eternal life in heaven.  It will end when my sinful body dies, and my eternal, holy, sinless soul is taken to heaven by Jesus, where I will live with Him forever.  There no one will be sad or in pain.  There will be no death, no grief, no discomfort.  There will be joy, peace, love, and light, and it will be more wonderful than we can ever imagine, until we actually get there.

God wants everyone to be in heaven with Him.  He has created you just like He did me, and He loves you, too, more than you will ever understand.  I hope you know my Jesus, too, and know that He is your Lord and Savior--and how much He loves you.  You can spend eternity in heaven, too, because Jesus paid the price for your sins as well as mine.  Try saying this to God, your Father--you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain:

"Dear God, I know you love me.  I know you sent your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for my sins.  I acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  Thank you for giving me faith in you and in what Jesus has done for me.  Now, as your child, I give my whole life to you."

Linking up today: A Holy Experience, Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family