Thursday, October 14, 2010

Better Me Epiphany ~ Motives vs. Action

We all have moments in our lives where something just clicks. Whether it’s when we are walking down the road, talking to a friend, listening to a song, or reading a book and all of the sudden our mind opens up and we see something differently than we ever have before. I call these moments Better Me Epiphany’s and I wanted to share a major one with y’all.
Growing up I lived in a very religious household. I grew up in the church going every Wednesday and Sunday. The school I went to was a part of my church and basically everyone I knew or came into contact with was a Christian. I am grateful for my upbringing because it made who I am today. The thing I remember most about my high school days and church was that I spent a lot of time working. I worked on being the perfect person who didn’t cuss, drink, smoke, talk about people and so on and so on. I had the mentality that if I wasn’t perfect then God wouldn’t love or bless me or whatever. So I was stuck in this way of living. I never wanted to make mistakes because I didn’t want to be a bad example of what a Christian should be and I didn’t want to make a mistake and go to hell. I can actually remember certain times riding down the road and thinking what if the rapture happened right now? Would I be left here? I would then go into a deep evaluation of everything I ever did wrong and repent(apologize). This way of living is very stressful and it is wrong.
After I went to college a started going to a different church (I had to I was 4 hours away!). that’s when my epiphany happened! My pastor, Kenneth A. Dean, said, “God is not held by the constraints of time. When he forgave you he wasn’t limited to just seeing what had happened yet. Jesus Christ died for your past your present and your future.” That’s when it clicked and I realized that I had limited what God could do and ended up stressing myself out with that. That was the first time I realized that when I accepted Christ that it was forever and that I couldn’t lose it. That is quite an Epiphany!
So after that mind-blowing revelation I started to evaluate my way of doing things before and my motives for doing them. I realized that while I was living the “perfect” life, I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I was trying to manipulate God by doing all the right things. That is just plain wrong. I believe that our motives count just as much or more than our actions. I was supposed to be living this life and doing the right things out of love to God not to try to get on his good side. So I urge everyone to do the best things in life but do them for the right reason, because it matters!


P.S. I’d love to do a every so often spot on here where someone shares one of their Better Me Epiphany. If you have something you’d like to share email me at mark.deer02@gmail.com. Let’s help each other out!

5 comments:

  1. I think I get what you mean about the ephiphany moments. I love those. It is as if, suddenly, boom, it's there. Clarity. I view that as the hand of God. Sometimes it is a problem I have struggled with for a while; sometimes it is just a sudden revelation that I had not really considered at all. But then there it is. I love that. Thank you for blogging about it. MJ

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  2. Mark,

    You know I am LOVIN' that post! And I couldn't agree with you more!

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  3. Hi! Came across your blog through V's Chillies. Great post. I can sure relate to that - my childhood belief was similar and lasted into adulthood.

    Stop by sometime!
    -Kim

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  4. Oh - tried to find you on FB, but couldn't. (link led me to FB homepage... ) And your profile doesn't say your name. Want to stop by my blog and friend me on FB? Thanks :)

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