IMPROVING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  
Anyone who does what is good is from God.  
Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 
(3 John 11)

MEDITATION:
Some people go through life wondering about their relationship with God.
Too many times we tend to keep a ‘mental ledger’ 
of the good and bad things we do.
But our relationship with the Lord is not a matter of whether our good things 
outweigh our bad things, it is about our attitude, commitment and surrender.
When our mindset is correct, 
our desire for good will be greater than our desire for bad.

We need to remember that we are living in an upside-down world. 
People hate when they should love, quarrel when they should be friendly, 
fight when they should be peaceful, wound when they should heal, 
steal when they should share, do wrong when they should do right, etc. 

There is a toy clown with a weight in its head. 
No matter what position you put it in, it reverts to an upside-down position. 
Put it on its feet or on its side, 
and when you let go it flips back on its head. 
Unregenerate people (not renewed in heart and mind, or reborn in spirit; 
unrepentant) are just like that! 
Regardless of what is going on, they usually revert to an upside-down position. 

That is why the disciples of the Lord were viewed by the world as misfits. 
To an upside-down person, a right-side up person seems upside down. 
To a sinner, a righteous person is an oddity and an abnormality. 
A Christian’s goodness is a rebuke to the wicked; 
his being right-side up is a stark contrast to the world’s inverted position.

ACTION:
Some want to follow the Lord 
while still holding on to a few things that are not good.
It is that natural desire to do evil 
that they refuse to release from their grip.

As Christians, we are not perfect, 
but we do need to consider our attitude and desire.
Are we bent toward doing what is good, 
or do the bad things attract our attention?

Jesus established the example for us to follow 
by displaying an unusual penchant for goodness, 
even while being shunned and mistreated by worldly-minded people.

He didn’t trade evil for evil, but instead showed goodness at all times.
We naturally want to ‘lash out’ at others for their unfairness or mistreatment, 
but Jesus showed us that we can be better witnesses for the Lord 
when we absorb the maltreatment of others, and show a loving attitude instead.

If you are a “fix it” person, 
it can be a quantum leap to develop His mindset until you realize that, 
like the toy clown, some people will never change regardless of your efforts.
Rather than getting constantly frustrated by your efforts to change others,
focus on an area where you can succeed, like changing yourself.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I pray that I will never compromise my stand for 
You and Your Son who gave His sinless life for me. Help me to be an 
overcomer of the areas of evilness that are still influencing my behavior. 
Teach me to develop a mindset similar to that of Jesus, so that my desire 
for goodness will be much greater than my desire for evil. Show me how 
to be a witness to others by how I react to, and cope with unpleasant issues 
and people in my life.”

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