Oh What Are You Doing?!?

Oh What Are You Doing?!?

by David Brenneman 

We quite often do not consider this passage in light of decision making.  

We are all plagued with a sin nature that constantly, incessantly, under the radar, tries to manipulate our thinking towards selfishness.  

Our world teaches everyone the opposite of the Word of God and flavors those teachings to sound like they are conveyed with God's own blessings!

Psychology as the world uses it steers people towards worldly thinking.  This isn't to say that there aren't Christian Counselors who utilize psychology.  

The battlefield is not in this physical world.   The battlefield is in the minds of people.  It's aim is to claim the souls of those who inhabit the Earth.  Satan's wanting people to embrace his worldview. To worship him as the host of Heaven worship God.  He will lie, cheat, steal and destroy, within the confines of the Word of God to achieve this.  He will seek permission from God concerning those he cannot touch because of the Spirit of God within them.  To that end, we need to realize that we are not pawns. We who are in Christ are to be transformed into the likeness of the Son of God.  Not to embrace worldviews or embrace selfish wants or desires that are in direct opposition to the Word of God. 

Submitting to the Spirit's direction isn't weakness.  It's obedience.  To take up our own cross and follow Jesus is to die to self and live to Him.  

We still will face situations, both small and apparently insignificant and those which are not. We will be tempted to handle these ourselves.  We will even be really convincing towards our way of thinking in order to bring about whatever might be -according to our thinking- what our heart desires. 

We will even sacrifice relationships with others in the name of what we want. We get so close to what we want that we justify that destruction of a relationship that we conveniently forget God brought together.  

The sensitivity to knowing the good we ought to be doing becomes less and less. 

The sensitivity of putting others above ourselves becomes less and less.

Scripture works with Scripture...always.  And if the Spirit connects Scripture with Scripture and it upsets you...that's both the point and the problem revealed. 

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:1-6 NASB. 

"Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice." Ephesians 4:25-31 NASB.

We easily justify our position, even against other Believers.  We easily will leave relationships with even Believers if it means giving up what we want.  It's a temptation that Satan's used to manipulate millions.  

Do you not remember the passage that states quite clearly that if you harbor anger in your heart towards another it puts up a barrier between you and Jesus?

That if you do not forgive another, how can you expect God to forgive you?

We aren't here in this life, in this here and this now, to live for self.  We are not here to get the best out of life for self.  

Jesus said very clearly: "Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:24-25 NASB95. 

A very significant part of knowing the good we ought to be doing is knowing how to live this life as a Disciple of Christ Jesus.  It means sacrificing self for the sake of others.  It means not our will being done on Earth...but rather His will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven. 

Are you angry with someone?  Realize that you're interrupting your fellowship with Jesus.

Are you bent on your desires happening at the cost of relationships that God introduced into your life? Realize you are interrupting your fellowship with Jesus. 

Have you known what it is that God's certainly shown you to do, which certainly isn't what you want, and you're refusing to do it?  Then you are interrupting your fellowship with Jesus.

If you value your relationship with Jesus above all else...then...live in the obedient life that the Spirit is teaching you and I to be living. 

We aren't in this world to have it our way. 

It clearly says as well that the anger of man does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.   

You will not walk in righteousness if you are angry at others.  

There is indeed righteous anger moments, but when our lives are not in sync with the Spirit, those moments are extremely hard to define...and to justify. 

If it's destroying a relationship that God brought together...it's certainly not righteous anger.  It's disobedience. 

If our desires are placed above the will for us in Christ Jesus...that's not righteous anything.  That's sin.

Our lives are not our own.  We were bought with a price. The blood of Jesus Christ. 

Are you living a life of self justification in your choices that feel good to you, seem good to you, but are destroying what God is doing in your life?  You're then knowing the good you ought to be doing and are not doing it, therefore you are sinning.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."