please you, judged by Him

i'm sure this is not an original thought at all. i am not the first to think of it or say it, but i also know that no one has been saying this to me recently. well that is except for the Holy Spirit.

and in that case, no thought is original because i, you , we are not original. we come from The Original.

here's the thought. i want it to be an encouragement for those stuck. i want it to be a reminder for those who already know. i want it to be a light for those who have not had the revelation. i want it to bring glory to the One who deserves it. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit glory to You and all that You are.

in this life you can live for others. you can please others. you can live up to the standards others put out there. you can strive for the approval of those above you, beside you, in your family, those you look up to, etc. you can try and satisfy the needs of others. you can do and not do things based on how you want others to feel about you. if you don't want others to think poorly of you, you may try to live by the standards you've made up in your mind that you think they hold. you can hold in hurt because you don't want to feel judged by others. you don't know what they will think of you after they hear that you....

but guess what?

all those people. all those lists. those standards. the rights and wrongs you lived by.

you will not stand before them at the end of this life.

those people and things have nothing to say about your eternity.
they do not determine how your eternity is spent.

if you are not living to please and glorify the Lord then you will suffer from major whiplash at the gates.
you won't even be able to remember the names of those whom you pleased on earth in the light of Jesus Christ the Savior.

so don't be stopped from doing the things you feel are going to glorify the Lord just because someone else may think less of you. and at the same time don;t discount others feelings because they aren't as high as the Lord.

balance. always find the balance of kingdom things within this world through your personality.

He is good. He has reminded me of these things. they are not my judge of eternity. they are those who get to experience Him trying to bring eternity here.

Jesus, stand behind

last Sunday i was blessed with a reminder. 
a reminder of freedom. 
a reminder of grace.
a reminder of love.
a reminder of new allegiance.


Romans 7:4-6 states:
 "Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in [a]the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."


i was reminded about the freedom i gained through Christ's life, sacrifice, and Resurrection. through Him i was released from the standards the Law called me to. if you read the first 3 verses in Romans 7 you will be shown an analogy of marriage. 

we were once married to the Law. this husband held impossible standards for us to live by and offered no encouragement or help in attaining those standards. living under him is called legalism. 


through Christ's death we died to the Law. we were released from legalism. our new husband justifies us before the Father and offers the purist form of grace, mercy, and love. this husband is Jesus and living with Him is called freedom.


the problem comes when we try to please our new husband by turning back to our old husband's standards. this just doesn't work. what wife today would be pleasing her new husband by turning back to her old? none. and the same applies to us. Jesus is not the Law. the Law pointed to Jesus and opened our eyes to the fact that we need a savior because we can't do it on our own. but once you have chosen a life with Jesus you must stop living under the Law. 


this means when we accept our freedom we stop trying to earn it. it is a gift. one that is not earned. one that no one is worthy of. one that you can not live up to. so simply accept it. 


now the only thing i could pray and think about after hearing all of this...


"Jesus please stand behind me."


it is often prayed for Jesus to stand and go before us. we want Him to be the leader, the one making the way, what we look forward to. but the reality is that we do look back. we turn back to legalism and trying to justify our relationship with Jesus through our works and deeds. so while i fully desire for Christ to be before me, i need Him to stand behind me. 


for when i turn back and start thinking about having a Jesus-plus(acting as if Jesus' grace isn't enough and adding things to the list) kind of day i need Him to stand behind me and say,


"oh my bride, don't you remember. you have been released from your old husband's ways. he only offers death. i have given you life and will never stop doing so. turn around and stop trying to please death."


so next time you start falling into old ways. next time you find yourself feeling guilty because you didn't have a quiet time that day. next time you think the Lord feels any less love towards you. next time....


pray that Jesus would be standing behind you.