Awareness

Wednesday, June 12, 2013        2 Corinthians 3:16-18 The Message

Awareness

The word awareness is vitally important to my spiritual growth. Part of my awareness is being sensitive to my every thought and deed as a reflection of the life of Christ in me. Part of my awareness is of how I have developed coping skills to help me navigate through life as I seek to get my needs for love and acceptance met through my work and through relationships. Awareness helps me shift my focus from what I can do to manage my life, to learning to trust God to meet my every need.

Awareness is learning to face reality, or as my buddy Fred was fond of saying, “You can believe what you want to believe, but what is, is.” That is a cute way of saying you need to wake up and become aware of reality. Where in life do you think you need to wake up?

If you were seeking awareness in your business life, management expert Peter Drucker suggests frequently asking, “What is our core business?” Then ask, “So, how are we doing?” That is sound advice for our spiritual growth as well. I adapted my Core Values from Dr. Larry Crabb’s book, The Pressure's Off: There's a New Way to Live (WaterBrook Press 2004).

Core Passion: I Live to Know Christ - Philippians 3:10

Core Experience: I Come to Him to Celebrate His Glory - Philippians 2: 10-11

Core Strategy: I Will Trust His Provision - Philippians 4: 19

Core Hope: I Expect to Become Like Jesus - Philippians 2:5

Core Attitude: Thy Will be Done - Galatians 2: 20

Part of my awareness is to frequently ask myself how I am doing making these Core Values the reality of my life.  But I have to be careful because I know this can easily lead me on a guilt trip. That’s not God. As I remind myself of my core values and ask how I am doing making them the reality of my life, I want to remember that it is God working in me bringing about the change. (Philippians 2:13) As God works in us, He brings us face to face with the furious longing of His presence: “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 The Message).

When I process through my awareness of where I am in making my core values the reality of my life, I always conclude with the vision of my face shining with the brightness of his face. The furious longing of God is so good.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.