A Little Respect.........

Developing character within yourself involves knowing your strengths and weaknesses. One of my biggest weaknesses that I am currently working on is that I tend to concentrate on the negative. I am always praying for all the needs in my life because I feel that my life is filled with all these bad things. Then I remember to be thankful and start to think of all the blessings that I have received. There could be worse things happening in my life but God protects me and I need to be thankful, not needy. 

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” Paul advises us, “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

One day I was having a needy session with God. My husband and I were going through a difficult time trying to understand what He wanted from us in our current situation. I asked God, “Why are you not honoring us?” You know what I heard in return? “Why should I honor you, when you do not honor Me?” Boy, was that a blow to my ego! I was thinking only of myself and was expecting God to give me everything that I wanted while I was giving Him nothing in return.

That prompted me to evaluate my life with Christ. I was not spending much time studying and meditating on His Word and my prayers were short and to the point, basically saying, “God give me this, Amen.” I certainly was not being an example of Christ in all that I am.  In that condition, who was I to ask anything of Him? In a few simple words of wisdom God put me back on the correct path. He is so awesome!

Compare your relationship with Christ with your relationship with your friends. Imagine going to your friends and asking for stuff for yourself all the time. How long would that friendship last? It’s the same way with Christ. Just as you show respect to your friends and don’t take advantage of the relationship, you should treat Christ the same way. Building a strong relationship with Christ is an essential part of your Christian walk, and any strong relationship will be characterized by mutual respect. Christ already respects you; do you respect Him?