It Is About The Little Things

1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

I want us to take a closer look at this scripture today with a continued emphasis on living with a purpose. The message yesterday was centered around the mindset of living with purpose as opposed to living on emotion. Let me point out something, you cannot expect to walk with Jesus Christ without emotion. He is the most powerful force there is and when you walk with Him there will be emotion. It is not whether or not you will be filled with emotion it is whether or not you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is whether or not you will be driven by the emotion or driven by the purpose God's has put before you. The love of God will stir things inside of you that you never knew existed, so expect emotion, just don't let it be the only thing that controls your actions. I made a statement yesterday and I want you to truly hear this and understand this, I believe that we impact more children of God (those who we are supposed to be discipling) by how we act regarding the little things (or so we call them) than the big things. How I act when I am hurt, how I speak to my love ones, how I respond when the doctor gives me terrible news, how I respond when  we don't go see the movie I picked, those are the things that will effect my ability to disciple those around me. It is hard for people to follow you when you say one thing, but your actions scream, sometimes literally, another thing. Let me ask you a question,  how did you get to a place where you don't drink, you don't use profanity, you don't smoke, you don't have premarital sex? You purposed in your life not to do those things, over time through the grace of God and His righteous hand you have been able to conquer so many things. So why haven't you be able to act differently when you don't get your way? So why do you still pitch a fit when you don't eat where you want to eat, or watch what you want to watch? So why do you worry for hours about the test the doctor is going to run? Why do you harbor those feelings in your heart that God has said let go? So why do you think those thoughts and meditate on evil towards that certain person? Because you have not decided to live with purpose in these areas. You are still living on emotion. When you live on emotion you will put yourself in situations where people will question how in the world you proclaim His name and act like that way. They will question how can you proclaim his name and talk that way? How can you proclaim His name and feel that way? Because emotion is the driving force in your life in these areas, instead of purpose. You may say you don't care what people think, well I am hear to tell you that when it comes to your Christian walk, Jesus cares what people think about you. He tells us we are to be a light unto this world. He definitely cares, He tells us we are the salt of this earth we should be seasoning those around us for His kingdom. As the scripture above says if we take heed to His doctrine and walk in His ways we will save both ourselves and those who hear us. Start today to live with purpose in the little things and you be more Christlike. You will walk closer to Jesus because you will be more like Jesus. You will effect more people because you will be more like the very power that started the good work in you.

RAK CHAZAK,

Brother Big Daddy