MATTHEW 3
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One of the easiest things in the world for me to do is give in to negative remarks about myself, which will see my mind lead me on a downhill path at a rapid pace. I've spent years damning myself and believing I had no worth - ever since I was a little girl, and way into adulthood. Even now, as I near my 50th birthday, approximately 24 years after 'repenting and being baptised', I can find myself taking on that mindset, again, if I'm not careful.
This frame of mind came over me yesterday. But this time I watched it as though God had set me on the sideline of my own life and asked me to watch the process. I watched as one criticism towards myself led to another and another and so on, until I let go of all that was in my hands and stepped back from it - emotionally, if not physically possible. I returned to my default personality, or mindset, I noticed. I let go of all the confidence I've found over the years - which mainly relates to my walk with God - and started looking for a gutter somewhere to crawl off into, wanting to return to where I believe God had found me, believing that was the sum of my worth. I don't sit there saying, "Poor me", rather, I have a more aggressive, angry attitude towards myself, damning myself with anger, while trying to knock myself down off any and every level higher than that of a gutter, telling myself I was a fool for stepping out of my deserved place. I don't pity myself. I despise myself, then welcome in anything that will prove that I'm worthless.
As I write this, I'm given the image of Eve in the garden, with the serpent saying to me, "Did God really say you have worth?" and I end up believing him...until my sin sees me on the outside of 'the garden of Eden', so to speak...
Anyway...this was the frame of mind I had found myself in by the time I came to read Matthew 3, this morning, and, as you can probably imagine, being in such a mindset, I wasn't getting much out of the Scriptures. In fact, I was ready to leave this blog blank and move on...until the Holy Spirit moved my heart.
"Look at John. He lived as a man with nothing; eating honey and locust in the desert. But he knew who he was in God."
John did not trouble himself with materialism - or where his next meal was coming from, I take it. He didn't find himself in a temple somewhere, wearing the finest robes or speaking from a polished pulpit. He preached in the desert and he concerned himself with the kingdom of God.
"Look what he didn't have."
"Look what he did have."
"Look what he concerned himself with."
"What are you concerning yourself with?"
John didn't have a pulpit, or a place in the church, or even a place, by looks of it. He lived in the desert, with clothing noteworthy only because of its discomfort (according to my take of what is written in Wikipedia), and didn't eat at the finest restaurants. If he was to value his worth on what he owned and his status among society, he would've deemed himself worthless. If he trusted that was where he found his worth, he would've lost confidence and crawled off into a gutter somewhere, too, I reckon. But he didn't worry about what he wore, what he ate, or how well he fitted in with his peers or anyone else. He knew in his heart what he was called to do and, turning his back on the way of the world, he remained faithful to his calling. He found his worth, and his confidence, and his voice, in that which he did for God...and, according to the way the Holy Spirit moved my heart through seeing this, that's what I am to do, also.
So, in looking for God's hand in this chapter, I see His hand on my heart, and He's guiding my eye towards all that is important, not what is passing, or the materialism that, in His kingdom, has very little worth in deed.
In Matthew 1, I saw that, as it was with Mary and Joseph, we, as God's children and chosen (and yes, that can be YOU), have the same mission - no matter what that looks like in the part of the world God sends you to, and with whatever you have in your hands: We are to bring forth Jesus Christ to the world, and the message of "God with us", in order to bring salvation to the world. If I constantly set my eye to my material worth in this world, or the worth of my status in society, my mission will change; I will lose confidence and set myself in the gutter for others to walk on or drop rubbish onto. But if I align my worth with my given task - the most important task in this world - then I must see that my worth is great in the kingdom...as is yours.
If I continually look for my worth in my abilities, possessions, wit, or whatever, I'm going to flounder and fail. I will lose confidence. In losing confidence, I will take the message God has entrusted to my heart and hands, and the 'tools' He's given me to pass this message on with (ie writing), then I will grow silent. I will lose my voice. I will not do as He has called me to do.
I've heard it preached in church that we must find our identity in Christ, but only now, as I see God's hand in John the Baptist's life, do I understand.
Thank you, God. <3
This frame of mind came over me yesterday. But this time I watched it as though God had set me on the sideline of my own life and asked me to watch the process. I watched as one criticism towards myself led to another and another and so on, until I let go of all that was in my hands and stepped back from it - emotionally, if not physically possible. I returned to my default personality, or mindset, I noticed. I let go of all the confidence I've found over the years - which mainly relates to my walk with God - and started looking for a gutter somewhere to crawl off into, wanting to return to where I believe God had found me, believing that was the sum of my worth. I don't sit there saying, "Poor me", rather, I have a more aggressive, angry attitude towards myself, damning myself with anger, while trying to knock myself down off any and every level higher than that of a gutter, telling myself I was a fool for stepping out of my deserved place. I don't pity myself. I despise myself, then welcome in anything that will prove that I'm worthless.
As I write this, I'm given the image of Eve in the garden, with the serpent saying to me, "Did God really say you have worth?" and I end up believing him...until my sin sees me on the outside of 'the garden of Eden', so to speak...
Anyway...this was the frame of mind I had found myself in by the time I came to read Matthew 3, this morning, and, as you can probably imagine, being in such a mindset, I wasn't getting much out of the Scriptures. In fact, I was ready to leave this blog blank and move on...until the Holy Spirit moved my heart.
"Look at John. He lived as a man with nothing; eating honey and locust in the desert. But he knew who he was in God."
John did not trouble himself with materialism - or where his next meal was coming from, I take it. He didn't find himself in a temple somewhere, wearing the finest robes or speaking from a polished pulpit. He preached in the desert and he concerned himself with the kingdom of God.
"Look what he didn't have."
"Look what he did have."
"Look what he concerned himself with."
"What are you concerning yourself with?"
John didn't have a pulpit, or a place in the church, or even a place, by looks of it. He lived in the desert, with clothing noteworthy only because of its discomfort (according to my take of what is written in Wikipedia), and didn't eat at the finest restaurants. If he was to value his worth on what he owned and his status among society, he would've deemed himself worthless. If he trusted that was where he found his worth, he would've lost confidence and crawled off into a gutter somewhere, too, I reckon. But he didn't worry about what he wore, what he ate, or how well he fitted in with his peers or anyone else. He knew in his heart what he was called to do and, turning his back on the way of the world, he remained faithful to his calling. He found his worth, and his confidence, and his voice, in that which he did for God...and, according to the way the Holy Spirit moved my heart through seeing this, that's what I am to do, also.
So, in looking for God's hand in this chapter, I see His hand on my heart, and He's guiding my eye towards all that is important, not what is passing, or the materialism that, in His kingdom, has very little worth in deed.
In Matthew 1, I saw that, as it was with Mary and Joseph, we, as God's children and chosen (and yes, that can be YOU), have the same mission - no matter what that looks like in the part of the world God sends you to, and with whatever you have in your hands: We are to bring forth Jesus Christ to the world, and the message of "God with us", in order to bring salvation to the world. If I constantly set my eye to my material worth in this world, or the worth of my status in society, my mission will change; I will lose confidence and set myself in the gutter for others to walk on or drop rubbish onto. But if I align my worth with my given task - the most important task in this world - then I must see that my worth is great in the kingdom...as is yours.
If I continually look for my worth in my abilities, possessions, wit, or whatever, I'm going to flounder and fail. I will lose confidence. In losing confidence, I will take the message God has entrusted to my heart and hands, and the 'tools' He's given me to pass this message on with (ie writing), then I will grow silent. I will lose my voice. I will not do as He has called me to do.
I've heard it preached in church that we must find our identity in Christ, but only now, as I see God's hand in John the Baptist's life, do I understand.
Thank you, God. <3
So...everything we need is found in God's "Word": Truth; Love; Salvation; Forgiveness; Peace; Healing; Our Worth; Our Calling...and so on... And, as the Bible tells us, JESUS is that Word...
Hmmm...Now I'm left with the question: How will you share 'The Word' with the world...? Well, however I do it, it won't be from the worth I find in myself (or lack thereof!) outside of Jesus... It's time to identify my worth, calling, etc and so on with Him.
Hmmm...Now I'm left with the question: How will you share 'The Word' with the world...? Well, however I do it, it won't be from the worth I find in myself (or lack thereof!) outside of Jesus... It's time to identify my worth, calling, etc and so on with Him.
The Baptism of Jesus
MATTHEW 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?’
15 Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.’
Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water.
At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said,
‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’