I Must Put My Focus On Him Not On Me

As this week progressed and I thought about building a strong foundation on Christ I pondered what should we talk about this Sunday this scripture continued to come to me.  “Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. ^He must increase, but I must decrease.”(John 3:30)  It came to me so often through many different forms, I began to realize that I could no longer ignore the fact that I should talk about it this week.  As I looked into what John the Baptist was saying here I began to realize as I study this that John had come to a point with his walk with God had become such that His heart was completely in sync with God’s.  How does this happen that one’s heart can become in sync with God’s?   This is what we are going to discuss in the next few weeks building a foundation by becoming less and letting God increase in our lives.

The first thing we need to do is to make sure we are not putting idols before God.  Exodus 20:3 tells us, “Do not worship any other gods besides me.”   This is the first commandant that God gives us, many think of it as saying to just make sure we only worship God and not wonder off to some other religion, but it means much more than that.   It means that we should put focus on God, as many  people in today’s society we have come up with a lot of demi-gods that are not carved images our even called religion.  People are putting their jobs above family, others are trying to make a name for themselves, some people put their children above everything else.  But God says put me first above all other things. Let us look at this conversation that Christ has here in Luke 10:25-28; “One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”  Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”  “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

The reality is that many of us love ourselves to the point that we are not really loving God or those around us, we are too busy trying to do things that make us happy.  We may come to church or even say we follow Christ but we say that because it makes us feel good.  But are we really allowing ourselves to come into sync with God’s heart are we living for His kingdom or for ourselves.  In his letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelations God tells them, “but I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”(2:4)  The question we must ask ourselves is do we love ourselves and the world around us more than God?  Listen to what Paul tells the Colossians here in Colossians 3:1-11; “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power.  Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.  For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  And when Christ, who is your^* real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory  So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry.  God’s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things.  You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.  Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds.  In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.  In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”