Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Where my heart is


Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) - For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Have you ever done something whether a job or out of the kindness of your heart because you know its the right thing to do? How many times have we done something then someone has walked up and paid you a compliment and you didn't know how to respond or worse yet find our self purposely trying to do something to get other compliments. I know I have and suddenly I fall. Flat. You know why? Because suddenly my aim shifts and I am focused now more on receiving man made praise instead of my Heavenly Fathers. Which most likely was what drew them to us and what we were doing in the first place. In Matt 5-7 Jesus teaches us how we are to behave. In 6:1 he says “ Do not do your good works publicly to be admired for then you will lose the rewards from your Father in heaven. ( The living bible).

Sometimes when I get compliments, I feel guilty because I can feel by saying thank you ( which is perfectly natural) I take something away from the original act. Which was to glorify God. If we can say thank you I must give thanks to my father for allowing me to do this.” You are still being polite and still giving the glory where it belongs. On God.

So if from that compliment I continue to do what my heart says then I can continue to please and glorify my Father but if from that compliment I am conscious that people are watching, I am doing it for them instead of my Father. And that in itself loses something in the translation any way. So we must work hard at keeping our eyes upward to the Father instead of downward or even to man when we do things so we don't lose the reward He has for us.

Lets pray
Father thank you for the ability to do your will and thank you so much for letting me be the vessel for which others see you by. Help me keep my eyes from slipping from you to others as I carry out your wishes for my life. For I am here to do your will not mine.

In Jesus name- Amen.

12 comments:

  1. Thank you ladies for stopping by. Have a great day.

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  2. I had a friend tell me that when she says thank you to someone or tells them they did a great job, it's because she sees Jesus working in them. I pray that every time someone gives me a compliment it's because they see Jesus at work in me. I want to do it all for His glory!

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  3. I would like to think that as well. Thank you for that reminder.

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  4. Well, gee, Debi...did you have to post this right after I hopped on my blogger to check my stats and was disappointed to see no activity and no comments? LOL! You must have gotten the message from God to post this for me :-)

    Thanks for the reminder and for sharing your heart so well!

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  5. You aren't the only one guilty of that Leah, I do the same thing. All I can do is write and leave the leading and Directing to God. I love hearing your comments and talking with you. And hehe I'm sneaky that way, lol. Have a great day Leah

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  6. Great post and very wise words. I struggle with the compliment thing too I am not sure if I should thank you or glory to God.

    Blessings.

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  7. That is a great reminder! I try to remember to give the thanks to the Lord. I know in my heart that is where it came from but I don't always verbalize it to the complimenter. Need to work on that.

    Blessings,
    Mel
    Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God

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  8. we'll get there. We just need to ask the Lord to help us give him the glory and verbalize it to those who compliment us.

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