FOCUS ON THE BLESSER
Be careful how much focus you place on your skills, talents and gifts in life. The Blesser is always going to be greater than the blessing. James reminds us that - "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)
This flow-perspective is a mindset Christians must have in order to cultivate the kind of Christ-like character that needs to be displayed daily in each believer through the Fruits of the Spirit. In other words, if we acknowledge The Blesser and where our blessings come from, keeping a thankful and grateful heart for all our blessings, then the remaining Fruits of the Spirit have a wonderful chance to develop and shine for God.
The reverse of this thinking is a shift of focus away from The Blesser onto the accumulation of gifts and/or quality of gift(s) to the point where the person decides they do not need God anymore.
One of the major examples of this shift of focus is Lucifer. In Ezekiel 28:17, God explained to Lucifer what happened to him and the consequences - "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."
Lucifer looked inward at himself - his "beauty" - and looked inward at his blessings - his "splendor". God created Lucifer. God blessed Lucifer. The shift of focus came by the will given to Lucifer and all the angels to worship God and serve Him only. Lucifer misused, perverted and corrupted himself and the blessings given him by acting on his own wisdom with an attempted overthrow of God's Throne (Isaiah 14:12-14). That did not, nor will it ever succeed.
Another example comes down to earth. The Hebrew people were blessed by miraculous signs that their freedom was at hand with God's plaguing of Egypt. After their release God miraculously provided for them again by parting The Red Sea, holding the enemy at bay, allowing the people to cross, then drowning the Egyptian army in the sea afterward. Still, after all these displays of provision, protection and care - the Hebrew people decided to take back the reins at Mount Sinai. And they paid for this shift of focus dearly (Exodus 19-32).
The Hebrew people looked at what they had been blessed with and corrupted it. God blessed them with freedom and miracle after miracle to the point of giving them The Law to live by. However, they grew impatient, looked inward and were creators of their own beauty by making the golden calf out of the gold blessings of Egypt that God had provided for them. They also felt they were creators of their own destiny, of a god they could control when they instructed Aaron to "make us gods who will go before us..." (Ex. 32:1). The result - about three thousand of the people died (Ex. 32:28).
The idea is about one perspective and mindset to keep and the other one to avoid. One has rewards. the other has consequences. This proper perspective maintains the right relationship between The Giver and the blessed and grants a greater chance The Gifts of The Spirit will be displayed and distributed effectively from Christians. As you can see, these are only two examples, but there doesn't have to be anymore examples if we keep our Focus On The Blesser.
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