one28 PodcastMaking Up Your Mindset
Kim Weinberg
Selected Scriptures
2007.12.05
one28 Wednesday worship
Tonight I am going to talk about the different things I was challenged by or learned while I was in Germany. So, let’s just jump in.
1. Submission
You know, a lot of times we think that life is all about us. But as a woman, we will always be under someone. First we are under Christ and then second we are under our parents and then a husband. Life isn’t about how you feel or what you think, it about Christ and how your head feels (being your parents or your husband). So often I think we get in the mindset of I don’t like (blank) or I am feeling (blank). When in all actuality it should be how can I honor and serve Christ and how can I serve others. Get the attention OFF YOUR YOURSELF and try putting it on Christ and maybe even someone else! We are always called to serve. So stop feeling sorry for yourself because it’s hard to obey your parents or that girl is being mean and start looking for ways to bless them. John Piper said this in one of his sermons, “Take all your hope for happiness and pin it on God!” When we obey and submit to our parents we are actually setting ourselves up for blessing and happiness. Instead of focusing on a boy you like and trying to find happiness in that relationship (or whatever the thing may be you are trying to find happiness in), why don’t you try taking that energy and “pinning” it on God! He will bless your socks off and you will have an unspeakable joy and happiness in Him, for you will be focused on things of eternity.
The blessing in submission is far GREATER than the act itself. As my parents and I were talking about the opportunity I had to go to Germany I wasn’t really all that excited. I knew that was where I was supposed to be, but I wasn’t looking forward to being away for seven weeks (which isn’t even all that long). I was going to Germany out of obedience and that was about it. Once I got there, the Lord showed me how great submission really is. He was gracious to keep me focused on him instead of the fact that I was thousands of miles away from the people I loved. Homesickness was very minimal. I cannot tell you how truly great it is to be in full submission to your parents and the will of God. Obey in the hard things and see how God will provide and bless you!
2. Bible centered
Here we struggle to read our Bible everyday yet it should be the FOCUS of all we do. How can it be the focus if we can’t even read it daily? In Deuteronomy 6:7 we’re commanded to teach the things of the Lord to our children. How can you teach your children something you don’t know? When I was in Berlin, I was so challenged by how much those kids knew. They know more than I do. It just really showed me that I have so much more to learn. Also in Deuteronomy 6:7 it tells us we are to be teaching our children the things of the Lord when we sit in your house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise. That pretty much covers ALL DAY LONG! We are to be teaching these things ALL THE TIME! Are you ready to be teaching your family the things of the Lord all the time? That’s a big responsibility!
Memorize what is in each chapter of the Bible. And as you read your Bible be thinking of principles that will help you in daily situations. That way instead of always saying… Because I said so, you can say, “The Bible says….”
Stop giving excuses for not reading your Bible. The reason you are not reading is not because you are too busy because you have time to hang out with your friends, to watch TV, and to go on the Internet. And it’s not because you don’t like reading because you read that note from the boy you like over and over again. The reason you don’t read your Bible is because it’s not a priority! It is because TV and friends are more important and because your dislike for reading is stronger than your love for the Lord.
And the thing is that just because you read your Bible that doesn’t mean that you are Bible centered. We are to be focusing on God’s Word all day long. It should be our source of strength and the thing we turn to for wisdom. We should be MEDITATING on it DAY and NIGHT (Joshua 1:8)! Not just reading it to check it off of some list.
3. Home centered
Are you domestically equipped or are you being domestically equipped? In Titus 2:3-5, the fourth thing that is mentioned for the older woman to be teaching the younger woman is to be working at home! This is the first actual call to action. We are to be home centered, not education centered or career cantered. Now, I am not saying that we are not to have an education or a woman can’t have a job, but I am say all those things should be done with the focus of making you more home centered. Education should be done with the mindset of making you a wise educated helpmate and mother and the career should be done for just a season. Our hearts should be in the home and our desire should be to be at home.
Go to school with the mindset of learning to teach! I wish I had gone through school with at least the mindset of teaching my children! So many of the facts I learned I only learned them to pass the quiz and then out of my head they went. Take advantage of this time and learn all you can.
Learn all you can from home now. Your mothers have much to offer you and take advantage of that now, because believe it or not, you have more time now than you ever will!
4. Christ, Great High Priest
When I was in Berlin, I was in Hebrews for my personal devotions. It was such an encouragement to me and it was just what I needed to be reading. I was so encouraged by the fact that we have a Great High Priest who can sympathize with us. He knows exactly how we feel! He has been tempted in every way we have been (and yet without sin) and He knows greater sorrow then we have ever known for He was separated from His perfect Father (Hebrews 4:15-16). Run to Christ; He will give you the grace and He WILL help you in time of need!
Also, I was encouraged by thinking about how we have a Great High Priest who has paid for all of our sins. The ones from yesterday, today, and even the ones we will commit! He has already paid for all of our sins and that should cause us to rejoice and focus on Christ instead of our sins. We stand before Christ perfect, and that should cause us to rejoice!
5. Christ, the hole filler
All of our needs should be found and filled by Christ. He is the one who put the needs in our hearts and the only one who can perfectly fill them! We are to look to Christ for our satisfaction and as soon as we look for it in a person, that person will let us down. In fact, Christ is driving us to our knees so that we put our dependence in Him. He will be the mother to the motherless, Father to the fatherless, and He will be the Friend to the friendless. We all feel lonely at time, but when we look to Christ He will fill that void for us. Fall on your knees before Him and ask Him to help you love Him more in light of the loss!
As I was talking to Lois about this, she gave me the example of her brother getting married. She was excited for him but at the same time realized that now meant that she was no longer the “girl” in his life (since they had a really good relationship). He was now moving on and “leaving” the family. But in that she saw how Christ could fill that hole that was now left in her heart from her brother. So as relationships change and you “lose” friends, just remember that Christ is always there and He is ready to be that friend to you! He will provide a grace like no other for you to get through the hard times.
In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul is saying that he knows how is feels to have much and to have little (in the world’s eyes). Yet, through all of the hard times he said he learned to be content because he knew that those things are all from God. He knew that God would provide for Him and would be his all. Paul truly understood what it was like to be alone, and yet He rejoiced! So, rejoice in your hard times since they drive us to our knees before God. It is in those times we have sweet communion with our Father for all the things of the world are gone and it is just Him and us!
Even when Lois lost her first husband, she said that she had a grace from God that no one else could understand. She said she thought it was harder for others than for her because Christ provided a supernatural grace to her! Christ even provided a new husband, a new love, and helped her overcome the loss for her first one.
God was even gracious to provide four beautiful kids with Buddy (her first husband). He was in seminary and they were planning on waiting until he graduated to have children, but God had other plans for them. If they had waited until he was done with seminary, she would have had no precious children to remember him by.
6. Please God and NOT man
Even in my “conviction” of my sin I have to see if I feel bad because it’s ruining my reputation or if it is because I have sinned against our Holy God! Galatians 1: 10 says, For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. You really do have to choose pleasing God or man. It doesn’t matter what others think of you. in light of eternity the only thing that matters is if God is pleased.
Even when you get dressed in the morning are you picking out your clothes so that boy will notice you or that girl will say she likes your new whatever? Or are you getting dressed to bring glory and honor to God? That is a hard one, but again in light of eternity who cares if your hair always looks good. Even with weight–coming from one who struggles with their weight–are you loosing the weight so you look good and get compliments or is it so you honor God in your discipline and denying the flesh? There is a fine line there.
And then there’s the other side. You don’t care what you look like, how much you weigh, or what people think of you. This too can be sin. You are not taking care of what God has given you. There needs to be a balance. We should get dressed in the morning for the glory of God. We should eat or not eat something for the glory of God (and depending on what side of the spectrum you are on, that may be eating the dessert or denying the dessert). The point is, in all you do seek to bring glory to God and not yourself or man!
7. Proactive serving
As I watched the Green’s I noticed that they were always looking for opportunities to serve others. Just an example of this–there is a lady in their church who has cancer. She is in a lot of pain and it affects her ability to walk or even stand for any amount of time. Every Sunday that she comes, Eshte is quick to go and get her a cup of hot tea. So often we let those little opportunities pass when we could be blessing those around us. Look for ways to serve others! So often we get stuck looking at ourselves and how we have no friends or whatever the case may be, when we could be serving those who have it far worse than we do. Get off yourself and look to others! Galatians 5:13-14 says, For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.
So, with all of this, I would like to challenge you to look at your mindset and see if it lines up with what God has called us to be thinking doing as woman: Submit, be woman of the Word and of the home while loving Christ and others!
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