Sunday we ended our Illusions series. The last two weeks were a BLAST for me and best of all we saw lives changed! If you missed a message you can go here to listen.
To close out the series, we talked about how we often secretly think things of others like, “Wow, that person is really messed up!” In doing so we can be deceived by the illusion of our own self-goodness. Yet when the truth of who you are meets the truth of who Jesus is, you discover the truth that sets you free. Free from the illusions of your life. Free to pursue God with confidence. Free to worship Him out of the reality of who we really are.
Some questions to keep you thinking:
- In what situations are you likely to present a fake or masked version of yourself?
- What keeps us from realizing our own need for God? What do you feel like there is in your life for which you need forgiveness?
- Read Luke 7:41-47. What is keeping Simon from realizing his own need for forgiveness?
- The comparison game can blind us from our own mess by comparing our lives with those around us who are heading in a downward spiral. But who should we really be comparing ourselves to? How do we compare to Jesus?
- Why is it that the longer someone walks with Jesus, the less desperate they seem to become for Him? In what ways have you lost passion/desperation in your relationship with God?
- How can you renew your desperation for Jesus?
The tell-tale sign of whether you’re becoming a victim of the “illusion of your own goodness” is the amount of gratitude in your heart for what Jesus did for you. Are you still passionate about your relationship with Christ? When was last time you invited someone to come along and experience the truth?
If you can sit through a worship service, Baptism, or see a sunset and not feel anything well up inside you from deep within, the warning lights on your spiritual dashboard should start going off. How is your gratitude demonstrated in your relationship with God?
Don’t let the series end here though…spend a couple minutes each day for the next few weeks giving thanks to God with genuine gratitude.
What? I miss him already.
