Sunday, August 23, 2015

Start Time: 6:13 AM

End Time: 6:40 AM

Title: A God-Shaped Life

Scriptures: Proverbs 11:17 - 31

God’s Message/Promise/Commands:

Today, God is telling us there is only one way to live our lives - to live it patterned to His image, A GOD-SHAPED LIFE!  Yes, God said it's possible!  From verses 17 to 31, there are so many great wise words from Solomon in this chapter but all leads to living a godly life.  However what stand out among all these beautiful and powerful verses for me is verse 29...Solomon wrote, "Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air; common sense tells you it's a stupid way to live" Hallelujah!  This verse struck me because I believe as Filipinos, we have this culture of being close to our family and in that process, we have this belief that our families will always be there for us; to help us, to save us, to come when we are in need of help.  Yes these are all true and these are noble acts but many times, because we have this mentality, it is easy for us to exploit or abuse our family because we know that somehow it is part of our obligation to help one another in trouble in the family.  I say that this is only true in the Filipino culture because other foreign cultures, do not include this.  In fact, some are raised to be independent after and live on their own.  But here in the Philippines, after you graduated and have a job, even when you already have a family, you are still obligated to help other members of the family.  And although helping is good... it is in fact one of the most manipulated tool to abuse another.  Sad but true!  Helping should be a joy but if helping becomes a burden, then there's something wrong there.. I mean help and burden just doesn't equate together, so go figure!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, what a wonderful day and time of learning.  Thank You for reminding me that there is only one way to live life and it should be a godly life.  I am amazed of how everything just falls into places when we choose You are all times.  Thank You also, for teaching me that my family should be the 1st people I blessed and not exploit or abuse.  My family should be the people I take care and love and be happy to help out always and not the other way around.  Help me to be a blessing to my family and not become a burden Lord.  Help me to realize that my family is willing to help me but it is not reason enough to abuse the help they give me.  Give me wisdom Lord to apply these truths in my life.  In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Memory Verse Share for today:

Proverbs 11:29 (The Message Version)

"Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air; common sense tells you it's a stupid way to live."

God tells us that to exploit or abuse our family is just plain stupidity, even common sense will tell you that.  However as Filipinos, our culture dictates that helping our family is an obligation, even when you already have your own family.  Let us be reminded that we are to become a blessing to others and the first people that we should all be a blessing to is our family and not the other way around.  Let us understand that although we know that our families will always be there to help us, it is not reason enough to abuse or exploit them.  Let us treat them with respect and be ashamed to even abuse the help they willingly give us!