First, as part of the A call to die 40 day study, we are supposed to fast from something time consuming. I chose to give up facebook, as it MONOPOLIZES my time. However, having started the fast yesterday, I realized I did not disconnect the feed from this blog to my FB page. So, if you see this and read it, know I am not actually on facebook, and this is not cheating as I cannot see anyone's comments. However, I would encourage you to follow me on here! www.uthpastorb.com
Alright, I am leading my youth group in this study, and we officially started yesterday. The study is from David Nasser, and A call to die has been around a long time. We went through it in my youth ministry when I was a junior in High School. I started my Junior year 9 in a half years ago...crazy!
I am going to blog once each day about this study, with today being the exception with two, because I did not post yesterday which was Day 1. Here it is now...
Day 1. Take up your cross
Day 1 deals with a call to die to our selfishness. This is a tough one for me right out of the gate. Point blank: I am a selfish person. This has become more evident to me as I have been married. It is important as a Christian, to realize selfish tendencies and work to correct them. The passage for today's study is Matthew 16:24 which says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
This is a verse I have heard and read many times in my life, and it takes on new meaning for me in the issue of selfishness. Really, to take up one's cross is the epitome of self-LESS-ness. It is letting go of you, and all that you hoard, or crave, and giving ALL of you to God. Does this mean we don't spend time with family because we give our ALL to God? Does this mean we should never have stuff, or hang out with friends, or go to stores, et cetera? NO! However, if those things keep you from, or replace God as number 1, then priorities need to be shifted.
Dealing with selfishness, and defeating it, is a matter of not feeding it. Like anything else, if it starves, it dies. If there are activities you watch or participate in that breed a selfish attitude, remove them! If you are doing something nice for someone(s) to get recognized...you need to check your motivation. I'm not saying stop being nice, haha, but I am saying check your heart.
There are many references in the book to avoid these traps like not listening to music that makes selfishness the norm, or not hanging out with people that drag you down and enable an intrinsic selfishness in you.
I think, being honest, there isn't going to be one topic in these 40 days that either were not a previous struggle or aren't a current one. The purpose being to challenge on convict of the sin or transgression, and to right the wrong by being proactive in putting God first.
I ask for prayer as I endure this journey, and I wonder, do you struggle with selfishness? Would you like prayer in this as well!
Day 2 later today...hope you will join me for the Journey. I promise to keep the subsequent posts a tad bit shorter.
-Brian
Posts
2 comments:
thats awesome that Nasser is still using his A Call To Die book/experience in his ministry... I wouldn't mind digging around back home to find it. can't quite remember what event it coincided with years ago though... but thats beside the point haha. God bless and stay strong during the 40 days!
prayers for a challenging journey.
Post a Comment