Starve It part 4
The best way to get rid of something is to starve it. Because what you feed is what will grow. And the best way to starve the "bad" stuff is to focus only on the good stuff. Look at Luke 3:10-11, "And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." I really think its this simple: See a need and meet it. That's how we set our affection on things above, and not on the earth. We set our affection on each other. Being Christ-centered is being people-centered. And it is the opposite of being self-centered. When you're so focused on yourself you tend to take the smallest thing and blow it out of proportion. We tend to make mountains out of molehills. We tend to feed WHATEVER is in our lives be it good, bad, or ugly. So, instead, look around. Feed others. God is love. And that love is a love feast. Feasts are to be shared. If someone's hungry... give them something to eat. Simple. But you can't give what you don't have. You have to let God feed you with His love--with Himself--before you can feed anybody else. And if all you think you have is that bad stuff that you're so concerned with... that's all you'll be able to give. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Hurt people hurt people. But loved people love people. So we can starve the stuff we don't want in our lives simply by not engaging with it. Simply by feeding the stuff we DO want in our lives. Simply by feeding each other. And while that can, and often does, refer to actual food... it goes a lot deeper than that. Man shall not live on bread alone. We need relationships. We need each other! Philippians 2:4 says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." If I'm looking out for you, and you're looking out for me... neither one of us has to worry about ourselves. And the less self-centered you are, the more Christ-centered you can be. The more you feed the things in your life that you WANT to grow, the more the rest of it will starve, and wither, and die. Naturally. You don't have to fight the darkness. All you have to do is let the line shine. Because when God arises, His enemies scatter. When the light shines, the darkness flees. And dark cannot overcome light. If you're in a dark room, and you turn the light on... you aren't in a dark room anymore. When you're feeding the things in your life that you want to nurture and grow... the rest of it will take care of itself. I get so sick and tired of people who are always on a sin hunt. People who are always looking for things to condemn. Looking for things to attack. I think, in a lot of ways, we ought to live and let live. We ought to let people be who they are, and love them right where they're at. Of course there are some things that we shouldn't stand for. But I think its more important to focus on the things we DO stand for--grace, mercy, love. Those good things that we are to think on. Dwell on. Live on, and in. We choose what we give our three T's (time, talent, and treasure) to. Anything we deny those things to will starve. And the best way to do that is to give our three T's to the things that deserve them--each other!