by Maria Breeden
Ways We Dishonor the Power of Christ in Our Lives
We refuse to trust in Him to lead us and guide us through his Word & Holy Spirit, instead following after our carnal thinking and worldly “advice”.
Because we are naturally self-sufficient and independent, we actually loathe humbling ourselves and admitting that our little mess is not really working that well. We have good intentions but lack the actual grace and power of God to carry it out. Actually reading the Bible, praying, listening quietly and doing what you believe God is leading requires time and effort. God gives grace if we don’t give up.
We stay in situations, circumstances, jobs and relationships that bring us down and wear us out because we feel stuck.
Our pride and fear of the unknown keeps us stuck. Stuck is another word for bondage. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (2 Corinthians. 3:17). Whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36). He did not sweat blood, get His head stuck with thorns, get beat up and spat upon, pierced in the side, and nails in His feet and hands for us to deliberately stay in situations that do not honor Him. This means we ask for grace and courage to get out, work through it, and do whatever we need to do to make it right without violating our vows and promises to God.
Allowing fear, distractions, obligations, past mistakes and crowd/people/family pleasing (what will “they” think) to keep us from using talents, gifts and abilities that He placed in us to bring Him glory and honor is another way we dishonor God.
The praise of men and the criticism of men should be taken with a grain of salt. Get excited about neither one. No human has a heaven or hell to put you in for eternity. Fear is a great hindrance. God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Jesus told us to pick up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). This means actually leaving the distractions and doing what you know in your heart God told you to do.
Reasons Why We Dishonor Christ and Ourselves
Lack of Wholeness & Completeness in Christ
Being complete in Christ means you are no longer spiritually or emotionally hungry. A very hungry person will eat junk food and snacks – whatever is available. This is what the worldly lifestyle offers. This is also the same level of carnal or baby Christians, who only scratch the surface with God and live on milk instead of getting their own meat. Worldly junk food includes vain pursuits, selfish dreams, ungodly ambitions, money, materialism, sex, and career advancement to fill spiritual and emotional hunger. The cold reality is that none of these things actually matter when you die. No one says on their deathbed that they wished they had spent more time at work or if they could go online to check their bank balance one last time.
Complete means whole, entire, and full. The definition of broken is “having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order... rejected, defeated, or despairing”. Integrity is taken from the root word “integer” which in mathematics means a whole number, not a fraction. A broken person does not function in true integrity. They have internal fractions. This creates unhealthy neediness for attention, validation, position/titles, money, and love to provide a false sense of wholeness alongside nagging fears. The problem with this is that if any of their snacks/props fall apart, they will fall apart too because they lack integrity. They have to pretend they got it all together.
Failure to Allow Christ to Heal Our Brokenness
However, if a person is spiritually and emotionally complete in Christ they are also whole and thus have structural integrity on the inside. There is no need to pretend or prove anything to anyone anymore. They do not need the world’s junk food to stay alive and whole. We are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). We got that way when we accepted who He is and what He did on the cross. We received ALL of this by faith. If we received Christ—then we got ALL of Him. Not a little piece, crumb, slice or fraction. If we got ALL of Him it is high time we start living it. We bring dishonor and discredit to Him and ourselves when we choose to live fractured lives when He gave it ALL.
If we do not bring Him honor, we certainly are not honoring to ourselves. Honor God by first honoring your self as His child. You cannot be an effective mother, father, husband, wife, minister, employee, business leader or anything without getting this honor thing right first. Honor God by letting Him be God in you. Show God due honor and respect by actually doing what He said to do in His Word. Honor God with your life by making a non-negotiable decision to live the life that He gave you to the fullest, using ALL that you have been given to His Glory. Show God due honor by making the effort to actually renew your mind and allowing Him to heal your internal mess. Stop the self-inflicted pain of dining on junk food or milk or by refusing to be healed and whole because of what “They” may think. Let Him show you, lead you, guide you and heal you. Then you will walk in Honor as His child, daughter or son.
by Maria Breeden
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