What's Competing With God For Your Heart? Manage It (Victorious in Christ) Monday

^{Is there a competition for first place in your life between God and something else?  Have competing affections crept in?
Can't think of anything? Need suggestions?  Maybe blogging? Facebook? Twitter? Texting? Music? Romance novels? Food? Having house beautiful someday? Crafts? Your Etsy shop? Making money? Saving money? Being Super Mom?
Ouch.  Maybe I'm hitting a little too close to home?}

^{Do you get it? Even something good can get between us and God!  Even my ministry FOR God can come between Him and me.}

For the LORD thy God is

a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24

"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,

Hear, O Israel;

The Lord our God is one Lord:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:

this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:29-31

If we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, He's not just first, there are no other gods.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

^{The One True God is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit:  He is three in one: The Trinity.}  

We are to have no other gods before Him.  This is the first of the Ten Commandments.

I don't want to let my love or affection for something or someone compete with God--what about you?  How can we tell if that's happening? What signs would indicate that something or someone is starting to compete with God in our life?

What Do People Do For, Or To, Their gods?

• Worship them
• Praise them with their words
• Think about them
• Praise them with their actions
• Go to the House of their god, alone and with others (their families)
• Bring gifts to them
• Make one time, regular, or ritualistic sacrifices to them

1. Sacrifice their time
2. Sacrifice their money
3. Sacrifice whatever is precious to them

ToniVC

• Make requests of them
• Make promises to them
• Expect them to enact on their behalf
• Attribute to them power, benevolence, and authority
• Give them control, and authority to impact/affect  their lives
• Give them their affections

Signs of Competing Affections:
These questions may also help us: 

1. Who or what do I delight in?
2. Who or what do I talk about?
3. Who or what do I look forward to being with; what do I dream about spending my time doing?
4. What do I daydream about?
5. What do I spend my money on?

Identifying Competing Affections
For me, one significant indicator is what I spend my time thinking about.  Remember when you fell in love? You thought about the one you loved all the time.  You were either thinking about the next time you would be together, or the last time you were together.

What's consuming your thoughts? Is anything competing with God for your affections?  Have you lost your first love for the Lord?

What Does It Mean to Love God with All My Heart? Manage It (Victorious in Christ) Monday

Credit: Pinkpucca

We say we love chocolate and we love God.  What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  We've heard this verse so often, our eyes glaze over when we read it.  Jesus said this is the first commandment--the most important.


What does it mean? We think we know what love means, don't we.  I was surprised.


Love
This is the definition from the 1828 Websters dictionary:
1. In a general sense to be pleased with; to regard with affection, on account of some qualities which excite pleasing sensations or desire of gratification. We love a friend, on account of some qualities which give us pleasure in his society. We love a man who has done us a favor; in which case, gratitude enters into the composition of our affection. We love our parents and our children, on account of their connection with us, and on account of many qualities which please us. We love to retire to a cool shade in summer. We love a warm room in winter. We love to hear an eloquent advocate. The Christian loves his Bible.

"In short, we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight, whether animal or intellectual;

When I read this, the word delight jumped out at me! It made me think of one of my favorite verses.

Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Psalm 37:4

In this verse, it's a command to "delight thyself," so we must be capable of producing delight by a conscious initiative on our part, not just responding to something which pleases our "flesh"...


If we "love" what delights us and gives us pleasure, it makes sense to me that we must foster delight--cultivate it--in our Lord.  We must create an environment in which love can grow.  Like a newly started houseplant, we can starve it or feed it!  If we starve love and delighting in the Lord:  neglecting time alone with Him, not communicating with God in prayer or listening to what He has to say through His Word, not allowing Him entrance into our lives' concerns, but closing Him out "unless and until we need Him"--we will wake up one day to find love has died--like most of my neglected house plants.  But, in reality, we have killed it.

We are creatures made to delight in something.  If we do not delight ourselves in the Lord, we need only look around to find we have transferred our delight to something or someone else, by allowing it our attention and time and giving it ample opportunity to delight us. That is a competing affection. (I'll be talking more about competing affections next week.)


Does the Lord have all my heart? Does He have yours? Or is anything or anyone competing with the Lord for your affections?