The Direction of Unity Part 2

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3, New International Version

Feels weird writing at night. A wakeup call from work at 3:45 was not what I was thinking about as I dreamed last night. The huge ice storm really did a number on the Capital District yesterday and today.

The second part of this verse is something that really brought a conviction to me and my struggle with relationships.  The verse should almost be written in the reverse order.

Here is my un-greek interpretation.

"If you feel good about yourself,you will treat people with care,respect and concern for them."

For a long time, I did not feel good about myself and did not want to really share my emotions. I do not believe this was a conscious thing but was something learned in my youth that I never broke. Instead of sharing my emotions, I would get angry to try to hide the hurt. Not to hurt the other person , but to hide the pain that was in me.

I can say anything I want but this was sin.


So my sin of covering my emotions, prevented me from really thinking good about myself before God.

Not a "I can do anything wrong good"  but a contentment from God because I knew he loved me and I needed nothing else. I didn't need happiness from Julie or from what I did in life. I can intellectualize about it now, but that was not reality until God showed my who I really was and who he really wanted me to be in his eyes, not mine.

So, here is the crux of the problem.

If I did not feel good about myself and this verse says "consider others better than yourself"

I was really shooting low.  Because of my sin, I was not really able to really bless the people around me with  Spirit of God  in me because there wasn't much to give based on my low assessment of who I was and what I wanted to be!

A great fiend opened this up for me in a very non-intentional way but God does that in our relationships.

He said to me if I truly desire blessed relationships with my friends , spouse and family I need to drop all the sin I have at the feet of Christ.  I then need to ask him to forgive me for the junk I passed on due to my sin. I also need to go to the person and tell them this, " If it was ONLY my sin in the relationship that took it off tracks, that would be enough to prevent the spirit of God working in the relationship"

There is no blame of the other person. There is only a heartfelt desire to bring to God the sins in the relationship and ask him to forgive me and then go to the other person and tell them "my sin alone was enough"

No blame game, "no I could have done better", no "you were part of the problem"

Just an individual initiative to acknowledge the sin in my life and how it affected others. It is up to them to deal with their part and work together with God for forgiveness and restoration.

So Today...

I put my sin a particular relationships at the feet of Christ and totally turn it over to God. Lord forgive me for the times when my sin became a stumbling point in relationships and did not allow your spirit to totally work though each person. Forgive me for the times where I did not think of other more than me because I really did not think much of myself. Forgive me for binding people in my sin and the projections and assumptions I put on them because of how I felt. Restore relationships in a new way with the working of your Holy Spirit and a new way of thinking about me.

A way of love; 

grace; 

and mercy. 

A love that never ends.

A love that cannot be moved or taken away but only made better as I continue on the Adventure in Middle Grove.

Thank you for loving me!