The Least Shall Be Last

Over the past few days, we talked about the least we can to for each other and the least we can allow others to do for us. God has given us what we need (each other) to achieve all that we want in life. I cannot become the best ME unless I am willing to allow you to help. You cannot become the best YOU unless you are willing to allow me to help.

God has laid it out there for us; His blessings are truly on the way. Are we Christian singles going to renounce our membership in the Spiritual Jive Talkers Club or will we continue to wallow in the mud of low expectations and low self-esteem? However we try to excuse it; it is our decision to accept what God wants to grant or to reject it.

If we settle for doing the least and accepting the least from others; we will end up being the last. It really is that simple. The other key point to note here is that you cannot force me to reject God’s blessings and I cannot force you. From a spiritual perspective, it makes NO SENSE that we would in effect tell God, “No thanks, I don’t want the blessings you have for me.” When we insist on doing the least and accepting the least from others, we extend our membership in the Spiritual Jive Talkers Club and we end up at the end of God’s blessing line.

This is an exciting time; God has some great things in store for us and He has given us the capacity to help each other to live beyond our expectations. If we don’t fall into the trap of settling for the least, we will be in position to boldly proclaim: “The least shall be last? I don’t think so!”

The Least You Can Allow Me to Do for You

In my last post, the notion of how we try to get away with doing the least was discussed. One thing many of us will not admit to is how we lower our expectations so that we stand less of a chance of being disappointed. Christian singles appear to be experts in that area!

• We fool ourselves into thinking that we can do bad all by ourselves when deep down inside we intensely desire to find a mate
• We don’t put that application in for school because we do not feel ready to take on that challenge
• We spend money unwisely so we do not have to face up to the responsibility of being faithful stewards of what God has given us
• When someone we are attracted to does not return that affection, we try to convince ourselves that we do not care
• We play hard to get and we play games instead of being honest and clear when faced with the prospect of starting a new romantic relationship
• And the list goes on
  
  

God has not called us to live a life of fear! He is not looking for spiritual wimps who hide behind “Jive Talking Spirituality”; rather, He expects us to BOLDLY reach for all of the blessings He has for us. Reaching for Godly blessings is achieved partly by allowing others to help us. But because of our low self-esteem, we hope that people will ONLY do the least so that we will not have to step out of our comfort zone.

We should pray for each other and as stated before, that is the least we should do. As the object of my prayers, I encourage you to not sell yourself and the blessings God has for you short by only asking for my prayers. Position yourself to reap ALL of the goodness and favor that God has for you. God puts us in each others’ lives to help and support and uplift. I believe He is offended when we do not allow others to help us to the fullest extent. Now, you don’t want to offend God, do you? Then do not settle for just my prayers. God has much more in store for you than what your fears and/or low self-esteem will try to limit.

So, what is the least you can allow me to do for you? Be open to how God can use me to help you. Yes, He hears my prayers on your behalf, but He is also giving instructions and capabilities to help after the praying has stopped. We say God’s storehouse is full of abundance and blessings; then why would we settle for less than what He has to offer? As Christian singles let’s heed the Divine call to help more, love more, support more, uplift more AND accept more of what God wants to give, even when it comes in the form of aid that He has inspired others to provide.

The Least I Can Do For You

Yesterday, the case was made that if we are to be consistent with our spiritual calling, then we should spend more of our attention and energies toward helping others and less on our own needs. Having said that, what I have noticed is that many of us Christian singles try to find the least amount of “spiritual stuff’ we can get away with. What do I mean by that?

• We may forgive others, but we refuse to forget
• We are great at loving those who love us, but terrible at loving those who hate us
• We don’t mind helping others to a point, but when it becomes inconvenient, we become less concerned about being helpful
• Most of our prayers are about us when they should be more about others
• We are not genuinely happy when others are blessed because we are focused on what we are missing.
  
  

These are just a few examples of how we try to do the least we can. By operating at such a minimal level, we are affirming our membership in the Jive Talkers Club!!

As a fellow Christian single, what is the least I can do for you? In my opinion, the least I can do for you is to pray for you. It is less important about what I pray for on your behalf because only God knows what the best thing is for you. Rather, the more important thing is that I pray for you. God will translate, modify and convert my garbled, but well-intentioned prayer. I may pray that God will help you find a mate or that you get that new house or that you are promoted at your job or that you succeed in your business venture. But He will bless you in the way that best fits your circumstances. Therefore, it is important we understand that it is the ACT of praying for others that gets God’s attention more than WHAT we pray for.

Praying for you is the least I can do for you. But as a Christian, I should not settle for just doing the least. Trained monkeys can do the least! So my intention is to let my prayers be the beginning of what I do for you, not the end. Because God wants you to experience the abundance of His favor, I cannot settle for doing the least. Therefore, as an extension of my prayers for you, I am committed to acting on those prayers. Thank God that Jesus did not stop at just praying for us; He made the supreme sacrifice and in our interactions with each other, we too must resolve to not be content with doing the least.

Tomorrow’s Post: The Least You Can Allow Me to Do for You

Spiritual Jive Talkers Club!

Which is a more spiritual concept; Focusing on what I can do for you or focusing on what you can do for me?

Unfortunately, many Christian singles talk a good game about being spiritual, but they are just “jive talking”. If you spend more time thinking about what people can do for you than you do thinking about what (good things) you can do for them, then let me be the first to welcome you to the “Spiritual Jive Talkers” Club!!

God wants to use us to bless others. But how many times do we tell God: “Forget about blessing others and just bless me”? If that is your stance, then you are just wasting your breath. Always remember that God is going to bless when and how and who He wants. If He chooses to use us to share His favor with others, then we should be thankful. The Supreme Creator of everything wants to use you? That’s great!! Why would you not want the opportunity to be used to further God’s plan of blessing others?

Spiritual Jive Talkers tend to take the short-term view when it comes to being blessed. Instead of recognizing the long-term benefits of being part of God’s blessing distribution system, they drag their feet and complain about how they perceive that God is blessing everyone but them. What are they worried about? God has more than enough blessings to go around.

When God uses you to bless others; He stores up blessings that are specifically designated for you. No, He didn’t forget that you want to be married someday or that you want to go back to school or that you want to be healed of that illness. Whatever blessings you are seeking, the more you allow Him to use you to bless others, the more likely that you will receive the very things you are waiting for. The great thing about that is that if you are faithful in letting God lead you to serve others, you don’t have to tap Him on the shoulder and say, “Lord, what about me?” He has already determined the how and the when of your blessings.

God notices YOU and YOUR NEEDS when you focus on helping others. So, renounce your membership in the Spiritual Jive Talkers Club and position yourself to be blessed by deliverer of God's goodies to others.

Tomorrow’s Post: The Least I Can Do For You

…ian Singleness!

In light of what Jesus is doing for singles, what is it that we can do for each other? Unfortunately, many of Christian singles think that what Jesus is doing is enough.

• Overlook my faults because God is still working on me (Translated: I know I am wrong, but deal with it.)
• Stop trying to pick out my “specks” and get that big “log” out of your eyes (In other words, let me do what I want to do.)
• Jesus loves and forgives, but don’t expect me to do the same (Translated: You hurt me; I am going to hurt you more.)
• The Lord knows my heart (so you should just let me treat you any way I want to)
  
  

No wonder so many of us have unfulfilling platonic and romantic relationships!! We take what Jesus does for us and we turn them into excuses for hurting each other. Lovers are not loving and friends are not very friendly.

Jesus has paid the price for each and every sin, but that is not a license to pad our spiritual expense accounts!! By doing what He has for us, He is presenting us with an opportunity to be blessed. But we insist on snatching cursed singleness from the jaws of blessedness.

Let’s make a point of putting “CHRIST” back in our Christian singleness

• Love others has He has done
• Sacrifice self for the sake of others
• Stop hiding behind the twin monsters of FEAR and EGO
• Forgive AND Forget; stop holding others hostage to their pasts
• Make a point of uplifting others
• Remember the GOOD in others and forget their BAD
• Form relationships based on what you can do for others; not on what they can do for you
  

What Jesus Does For Singles

One day, while driving my car, I saw something that caught my eye and caused me to reflect on our journey of singleness. A family was getting ready to cross the street that had a fair amount of traffic going in both directions. This family consisted of a father, mother and one small child. As they approached the side of the street, the father picked up the small child and waited for traffic to clear up before he led his family to the other side. The small child apparently wanted to cross the street on her own because she started crying while trying to wriggle and twist out of her father’s grasp. This family made it safely across the other side and the father eventually released the child, but only after the child was no longer in danger.

What the father did for that child, Jesus does for singles!

How many times have we rushed headlong into situations and relationships and reached ill-advised conclusions totally unaware of the threats we were subjecting ourselves to? Jesus, like the father in the above story, protected us from the dangers we were unwittingly inviting and guided us to safety. Remember that time when:

• You just had to have that man or woman in your life?
• You were convinced that you couldn’t breathe without Mr. or Miss Look-So-Good?
• You just insisted on doing things your way?
• You gave in to sexual temptation and slept with someone who was not your marriage partner?
• You entertained the latest gossip and rumor about a close friend?
• You refused to see the good in a person and insisted on focusing on their faults?
  
  

In spite of our stubbornness and outright defiance, Jesus still protected us. That relationship, that man or woman, that sexual temptation, or those moments of indiscretions did not blow up in our faces. We’ve had our moments of depression and we’ve been sucker punched by guilt or frustration or anger, but Jesus still kept us from falling all the way down and out. That disease we were on our way to contracting was prevented from reaching us, that jealous boyfriend or girlfriend who was getting ready to “go postal” on us was diverted from our path, that lie or rumor we spread did not destroy a good friendship and we still have our mental and spiritual sanity. Because of Him, we are safe and we are able to live to see another glorious day of God’s brand new mercies.

Don’t think for a moment that you “made it to the other side of the street” on your own. In case you don’t recognize, let me tell you. Keeping us from falling, that’s what Jesus does for us singles!

That's What I Am Talking About!

In just a few hours after I left my previous post "Let Me Help You", I have received some interesting and postive responses. Isn't it nice for us to reflect on how we can achieve our dreams? God gives us the capacity to hope and strive for the better things in life. It is my belief that he never intended for us to attain those things without any help.

Instead of us talking about our shortcomings or how this person disappointed us or how that person did us wrong, we have the possibility of talking about becoming more like what God has envisoned for us to become. More discussions on how we can realize our potential and less conversations about the negatives in our lives; now that is what I am talking about!

Let Me Help

Hey, I'm back! Did you even notice that I was gone?

As the first blog after my hiatus, I want to revisit a thought I had toward the beginning of this year. God has been good to me and I believe part of the reason He has been good to me is so that I can be good to others. In other words, He wants me to take the blessings He has granted me and turn them into blessings for others. So, please take the time to read my post from last year. (The link is below.)

There are things you want to do this year. Can I help? Is there anybody out there who is trying to start a new business? What about wanting to lose weight? Or maybe you are trying to further your academic pursuits? Ever thought about publishing that book or producing a music cd? Maybe you want to pledge a fraternity or sorority. Whatever your dream, let's make it come true this year.

If you choose to respond to this particular post, don't make it about me. It is not important that I am willing to help. What is important is that you are willing to allow me to help. So instead of commenting on my offer of support; tell me about something you want to achieve and how I can help you. Deal?

I look forward to getting out there and helping somebody!

http://mooskm.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-new-years-resolution.html