Starts With Me

Dear Beloved,

I posted something on my story earlier in the week about choices. For those of you who didn't see it, it states that even when we feel like our lives are spiraling out of control, and we are getting swept under the waves... we have a choice.

Let me elaborate. There are times when I feel like life is getting kind of hectic, and I feel like I don't have a say in anything anymore. Kinda like I'm just going through the motions. But when we declare and speak into life, that "I have a choice"... our mindsets change and slowly but surely, we see that change reflects in our lives. 

Let me just make clear that when I say that we have a choice, I do not mean that we get a say in whatever trials God puts us through. I am saying that we have a choice to change the way we deal with it. We have a choice to change our attitudes. We have the choice to be the bigger person. We have a choice to get up and do something to save souls. 

James 4:1-3 says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from our desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because it is with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

Guys, I am dead serious when I tell you that when I first read these verses, part of me was offended. "God, you know how hard it is to go through a day without somebody stepping on my shoes? Bumping into me? These people constantly testing my patience! I have a right to pop off every now and then!" 

I am also very serious when I say that God replaced my offense with conviction real quick. Take note of the last part of verse 3. "...that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." As Christians, we should always have God's best interest in mind. We should be constantly pushing to do His will and make Him proud. So when we are going about our days taking every little thing personally, we are actually placing ourselves above Him on our inner importance ladder.

I don't know about you, but I know for a fact that I don't belong before God on any scale that isn't related to "sinner". Every day we have a choice to take up our cross and walk the hard walk. It's easy to get mad. It's easy to lose patience. It's hard to apologize and turn your other cheek.

Today I am saying that it starts with me. The way I react to a situation not only impacts me and the way I feel the rest of the day, but it may impact the other person, inspiring them to do the same. The same goes for you! It starts with you!