What are You sipping on?: "HIS" perspective or Yours?

This past Monday I had time in the morning, before the little one woke up, to spend time with the Lord. Its always a treat when I can just sit and receive a word from Him (whether it be a sermon, devotion, or just the Bible). Just He and I, and a hot cup of coffee of course. As I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Paul Sheppard (who by the way was getting my whole life together okay!) he began to talk about idols. He defined them as "any practice, passion, priority, or partnership that we submit to even though it is contrary to God's word or will... Things that prevent us from honoring God, preempt the worship of God or militate against God." Now when I think about idols my mind automatically goes to a physical statue; something that people worship. Like in Exodus 32 when the people became impatient with waiting for Moses to come down the mountain, and ended up worshiping "an idol cast in the shape of a calf" ( Ex 32:4 NIV). Then of course there are those things that we [I] put before God. Like money, greed, sexual immorality (yeah we 're going deep ya'll). You know all the common stuff we know is wrong but do anyway. That could be a plethora of things! Some of which being our thoughts, habits, attitudes, and perspectives. So with all that being said, I began to ask God to reveal anything in my life that is an idol that I'm unaware of. Let's just say He didn't waste any time in doing so. He showed me that one of the many idols in my life is my thoughts about myself. More specifically my perspective on how I look and my self worth. Yep, that's an idol folks. Remember our definition of an idol is anything we submit to that contradicts the word of God.

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"...fearfully and wonderfully made."

Psalm 139: 14

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So I'm sitting at my kitchen table, trying not to look up at God sideways because I was feeling some kind of way about being called out (lol), and one of the mugs on my baker's rack caught my attention. It simply says "His"... as seen in the picture. Now technically this is my husband's cup hence the word "His" but I saw it differently that morning. It made me think of the fact that I belong to God. I am "HIS". I am who He says I am. That all tied into my thoughts about myself. My thoughts don't always line up with who the word says I am and how I should view myself. Psalm 139:14 says that I am "...fearfully and wonderfully made." My self assessment sits right up there in the "idols" category when I have allowed my perspective of myself to supersede what God's perspective of me is . My self consciousness caused me a lot of grief in the earlier part of my life. Story time folks!... Okay, so in high school I was notorious for liking random guys. I'm not kidding like every other week I was asking a different guy out. Yeah you read that right I was doing the asking (Lord Help! lol). I mean I had the whole "do you like me? check yes or no" letters down to a science. Well looking back on it now I realize that it wasn't the guys that I was seeking out. It was what I needed from them that I was seeking. Someone who could be attracted to me, tell me I'm pretty, someone who was proud to call me theirs. Someone to offer me all the things that I couldn't offer my self. Love, acceptance, and confidence. It had nothing to do with them and everything to do with the little girl inside of me who was yearning for self worth in all the wrong places.

That's something I'm sure we can all relate to right? Now as I venture further into adulthood and womanhood I know that everything I was searching for then was already mine from the start. I was accepted, loved, and wanted by the Lord Jesus Christ the whole time. God made me. I am "HIS" and anything that I need or am in search of, He's got it...All of it. "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus" says Philippians 4:19 (NIV). Just as I asked God to reveal the idols in my life, you can do the same thing. And if you're like me and have identified idols in your life affecting God's perspective about you, I encourage you to give them over to Him. He will knock down and destroy every single one of them in your life that is keeping you from the best relationship you could ever have. A relationship with God. Check your perspective and change it to God's perspective. At least that's what I've done over here. So lets do it together!

#mugs #jesuschrist #perspective #idols #godlythoughts