“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18 NLT
http://bible.com/116/2co.5.18.nlt
It’s interesting how we tend to only think of being selfish one way. Like being stingy in the sense of I have something I know someone wants, but I intentionally decide not to give it to them. We clearly have enough to share, but we hold it back to heap it on ourselves. Even in a sense of being prideful. We usually only think of being prideful in the sense that I’ve done something good and I’m heaping praise on myself for it. Similar to satan when he was still called Lucifer and decided he would try to overthrow God’s throne. I’m not saying these are in correct ways of looking at it. I’m saying let’s remember to flip the coin over, because there’s another side to it.
We want to always work to be sober and balanced in our thinking. This I believe will help to learn and apply the mind of Christ to our lives. We definitely understand being prideful or stingy in terms of being selfish. This can also come at us in terms of having low self esteem. I like how the Amplified Bible puts it:
“For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.”
Romans 12:3 AMPC
http://bible.com/8/rom.12.3.ampc
In other words, you can have an exaggerated opinion of yourself either in making yourself too high or too low. It is good to have a balanced mentality. Just like we can think we’re all that. Excuse me, alladat. We can also look down on ourselves so much that we in turn hold back what God has breathed into us by His Holy Spirit. We feel as if we’re not good enough or we’ve sinned too much or made too many mistakes to ever be used by God. Not so…EVER! There is no act you can commit, thing you can say that God’s love can’t reach you. From what I can see the only thing you can do to stop God’s love is to reject the gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ from coming into you heart. Who does that? 🤷🏽♂️
But seriously, this exaggerated opinion of ourselves leads into us being able to bless people with gospel of Christ. If I don’t think I’m good enough to have it then I won’t think I’m good enough to share it with others. The gospel must first impact and change my heart so I can share that change with others. Yes I was a wretched sinner, but when I accepted the life changing gift of Christ I was taken out of darkness and put into the marvelous light. I don’t look at myself or others based on what I have done in the past or the mistakes I made. I look at myself and others through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
No matter what I’ve done or am dealing with now I know that God’s grace is sufficient to strengthen me when I’m weak. When I’m down in despair God will lift me up. When I get too high and mighty in my thinking I can humble myself under God and He will exalt me His way when it’s time. Constantly keeping my focus on Christ keeps me in a ready position to share the love of God shed across my heart by His Holy Spirit living in and through me. This is the gospel. This is the good news!
That leads us to our Throwback Song of the Week. It is from one of our soldiers in the faith who has gone home to be with the Lord. R.I.P. DJ Official. A legend in the world of Christian hip hop. He is the former DJ for Lecrae. Prior to that the former DJ of the legendary Cross Movement. This is from his 2009 compilation album entitled “Entermission.” This album features a who’s who of CHH artists from Lecrae, Stephen The Levite, R-Swift, Sho Baraka and more. This track is entitled “The Streets of New York” and features rappers Jaz and Magellen. A track definitely focused on fulfilling the great commission. Not just in New York, but wherever we are.
Tune in to the Trackstarz radio show this week to hear DJ Jeremaya spin this one for the Throwback Song of the Day. Until next time…
Peace and blessings,
Damo
https://open.spotify.com/track/6CgHxwvESHTWUqGz3kNcUM?si=xvAjrDxBSeikCJlUxGO3lA
