Pleasing Others or Jesus?

Here is a journal entry I wrote both this morning and this evening.

Morning part talking about my devo:

Doing the right thing even when you might get punished (or ridiculed) for it. David kept sparing King Saul's life, but it didn't help him. Saul just kept chasing after him wanting to kill him even more! David knew that God would punish Saul and ultimately reward himself. I don't think my problem is punishment or just no reward. I think it's how I end up looking to my peers. Although I know I want to model Jesus in everything I do, I find myself not wanting to look like a "Jesus Freak". Or the kid who can never do anything because she doesn't want to have any fun or because her parents said no. Lord help me stand up for you and for my convictions.

Evening part talking about youth group:

God is so perfectly on time. I read in my devo this morning. Well, tonight at Youth Group Ryan (my youth pastor) talked about how we have an "addiction" to people pleasing. Isn't that what I wrote earlier today from my devo? So God must really be speaking to me. Ryan ultimately came down to the advice: "Stop. Just stop." We need to (I need to) stop focusing on what others think. If we focus on what others think, we live a lie, we live in fear, and we live for the wrong things (John 12:42-43). He also made the point that the people who we try to please today will NOT be answering to God on our behalf on judgement day. JESUS WILL BE THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL DO THAT!!! So let's please Jesus and not care what others think. Let's live our lives totally committed to Christ.

Well, that was what I wrote today. Hope it speaks to you just like it spoke to me. So now with God`s help I plan to not care what others think. I am living for Jesus because He is the only one who matters.

No Compromising

The past couple weeks I have started to attend a local church’s youth group. I have been to this youth group before, but not in a while. The first time I went this year they were starting to listen to Louie Giglio’s Boy Meets Girl series. I have really enjoyed going through it because it’s not just about “dating”. Within the first two minutes of the second session, Louie brought up the word “marriage”. He basically said that dating should only be with the intention of marriage. So far, I have agreed with everything he has said, and I’m really looking forward to going through the rest of it with this youth group.

After the video, we have a time of discussion. Something the youth pastor said this past Wednesday struck me. He was telling a story. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but it left me thinking. This is how it went:

A girl had been brought up in a Christian home with Christian parents. She was living the Jesus life. She held high expectations for herself and would not compromise those expectations even when it came to dating. She went through high school and college and still had not found someone to meet her expectations. Now she has a job and has started to compromise. One night after work she goes to a party and meets the man of her dreams – he loves the Lord and he’s got great character. When she gets home,she calls her mom and tells her all about her night. Her mom then says, “I’m sorry, but you’re not the type of girl anymore that that kind of guy would date– and then marry. You’ve made compromises. He hasn’t.”

This story made me think. I have set standards that I am not willing to compromise because I know it will be what's best. But I have found myself lured into the trap of feeling a need to be wanted. A need to be loved by a young man for my own selfish pleasure. When we as young people striving to be after God's heart look around at today's world, we see people our age - and even younger playing the dating game. And we want that too. But we need to stay true to our standards. Don't fool around. Don't play along with with world. Imagine being the girl in the story. Because she made compromises, she was no longer worthy of the godly husband she was praying for.

Let us all stay true to our standards we have set up so we will be worthy of the spouse God has in store for us.

A New Creation?

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The Bible clearly tells us that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins we are a new creation. We are not who we used to be. We are new.

I got this verse emailed to me this morning as Bible Gateway's verse of the day. It fits as today is New Year's Day and today is the start of a brand new year. People make resolutions to be "new". They may say they are going to work out more or eat healthier. The thing with resolutions is that they fade. I've tried for the past three or four years to read the Bible in a year starting on January 1st. I've even started again this year. By the time February comes by, I am back into my old habits and maybe not even reading the Bible at all.

But where am I going with this? Well, we mess up in life. No matter how hard you try to keep your resolutions for the whole year or try to stay from sin after you accept Christ, you're gonna slip. We all still have our sin nature even though God has forgiven us.

Today I slipped. I was an awful ambassador for Christ. And there are consequences. Lots and lots. But, Jesus tells us that even though we mess up, we are NEW! He died for us and forgave us. He died for me. He forgave me. I am new. I still mess up but I am new.

So when you mess up just remember that if you have invited Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life, He has forgiven you and you are a new creation. This knowledge helped me a lot today.