WHAT YOU SAY IS WHAT YOU ARE, OR IS IT?

What are you saying about yourself?  What are your words saying about you?

 What are you actions saying about you?  Are your words full of gossip and blame?  Are your actions full of anger and rage?  Are your words hurtful?  Are you actions painful?  Are your words and actions full of pride and selfishness?   Do you see the good in people or just the bad?  Are you willing to be a servant or would you rather be served?

In today's society there seems to be an "it's all about me" attitude.  If our spouse is not making us happy, we find someone new.  If our children don't behave we think they ought to we either beat them or we ignore the behavior just hoping it will go away.  If someone cuts us off in traffic, we make hand gestures and  shout profanities.  If someone dare question our beliefs or our attitudes, we bite back.  If someone tries to correct us, we become bitter angry fools.  

We want to be waited on, we want to be catered to, we want to be the center of attention.  We want to be noticed, we want to be heard, we want and want and want and want.  Now if I'm being honest, I love being pampered.  I love my pedicures and getting my nails done.  I love getting my hair done and being waited on.  But what does that say about me?  Would I be willing to be a servant?  Other people's driving does drive me crazy at times, mind you I never make hand gestures or shout profanities, but I get upset.  What does that say about me?   To be honest I would rather blame someone else for my problems instead of looking into my own heart.  If I look at my own faults and eliminate the blame and be honest, than I can learn to change.  

1 John 2:6 (The Message) Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived. 

or

 1 John 2:6 (ESV) whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 

Yes, this verse can hurt!  No matter what version of the Bible you use, this verse is equally haunting to a true believer.   The key here is are you a true believer?   When you said the salvation prayer, did that prayer invade your heart and your life?   Listen I am not perfect by any means (just ask Jerry).  I still can be very selfish and prideful, but each day I think I am becoming a little more like Jesus (at least I hope so).  I am striving to be like Him, I am doing what I can to be more like Him.  

Before I accepted Jesus Christ almost 8 years ago,  I would watch all the crime shows, I would read books where one woman was sleeping with 2 guys at the same time, I was watch the soaps and drama and basically filling my mind with garbage.  I truthfully didn't think saying a prayer would change me, but it did.   Gradually I began to change what I watched on TV, what books I read and what music I was listening to.  Basically I removed all the junk that cluttered my mind and I began to fill my mind with God's word and books that taught me how to change to be more like Jesus.

As a believer we should be choosing to imitate Christ as much as possible, because to be honest, we may be the only Jesus someone sees.  If we are wearing a Jesus pin and have a Jesus bumper sticker on our car and continue behaving the way we behave, why would someone want what we think we have, but obviously don't?  I know, ouch!  Trust me that hurts me worse than it hurts you.  

Being more like Jesus is the one goal in life I will continually work at and never give up on.  I want to have a more intimate relationship with God and if it takes me being more of a servant, like Jesus, than that is what I will work on.  How about you? 

Lord help me!!!!  I want to be more like you and less like me.  Rid me of the selfishness and pride that keeps me distant from you.  Remove the blinders that hide the truth of who I am.  Reveal to me your truth and your way.  Help me to walk the way you walked, in Jesus name I pray, amen!