Good morning everyone,

1 Corinthians 3:3-4-for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?

Do you recall any time when you thought, "I can’t wait to get home so I can relax"? Not because you were "acting" but maybe because you were around people who always made everything a competition? Popularly known as a "topper", someone who is always trying to have the best story, best clothes, best family, best everything. I think in some point in our lives we’ve all been that person or even still struggling with it.

Anytime we sense competition in our presence it creates stress of some kind. Now of course not all competition is bad, if you’re a salesperson of any kind you’d better be competitive or you don’t eat! But even in jobs such as teaching, pastoring, counseling, labor and service of all kinds there is competition, if not in sales, then in performance in being compared to others. So where does competition end?

Paul was dealing with a church that didn’t understand grace, so they were immature in their relationships with each other. Not realizing that mistakes happen to all of us, and failures are constant, and God blessings are from His mercy, not our merit. But if you don’t understand grace, you see through a lens of performance that is hyper sensitive to others failures but not your own, making you a "topper", always competing. Imagine if we were hypersensitive of our own failures, and always coming to Christ for His mercy? We certainly wouldn’t be spiritually immature to others failures and shortcomings, causing divisions by competing and thinking we are better than them? Real unity in any relationship must be built on the Rock of Christ and His grace, competition as a "topper" will eventually show that it’s foundation is truly sinking sand.

In His Love, Ld

On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 9:31 AM, eldoret gentry <eldorets> wrote:

Good morning everyone,

John 14:21-Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

One of the things my older daughter does is run upstairs and puts on one of her many princess dresses and makes a grand entrance to any room me and her brother are in. So I always make a big fuss over her, and nudge my son as well to tell her how beautiful she looks. The day she realizes I don’t care about her revealing her "beauty" to me is the day she will stop revealing herself, because she will know I have no desire to see her anymore.

Imagine the effect it has on you when someone desires to see you. It makes us feel loved and appreciated. Neglect is what makes us shy and insecure to reveal ourselves to anyone.

Of course our God is not at all insecure or shy given His bold unabashed love on the cross in the face of our neglect. But it does show how we are like Him in the sense that we have no desire to reveal ourselves to people who don’t desire to know us. What is your desire for Christ to reveal Himself to you? Revelation of Jesus comes by way of seeking Him, all because you desire Him. We lack revelation of who Christ is because we lack the desire to know Him, pure and simple. Remember all relationships grow because you want them to. Desire makes you find a way to make it happen.

In His Love, Ld

On Nov 29, 2012 9:41 AM, "eldoret gentry" <eldorets> wrote: