{"id":4905,"date":"2019-03-17T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4905"},"modified":"2019-02-15T18:48:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T00:48:07","slug":"choose-to-be-god-centered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4905","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Be God-Centered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

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I hate to admit it, but my world tends to revolve around ME and all things related to ME \u2013 my home, my family, my community, my city, my state, my country, my likes, my wants, my needs, my dreams, my passions, my opinions, and my thoughts. I am the center of my world and God loves ME!<\/p>\n

Sometimes I forget that although God loves ME, He loves everyone else, too. I may be the center of my world, but I am not the center of God\u2019s world \u2013 and it\u2019s His world that counts. So from time to time I have to do a reality check. My world should not revolve around me; it should revolve around God.<\/p>\n

When God becomes the center of my world, my world view or perspective changes. Exclusive concepts focusing on \u201cme, myself, and I\u201d are replaced with inclusive Trinitarian thinking focusing on \u201cwe and us.\u201d Neighbors and coworkers are not just acquaintances but brothers and sisters in Christ. A panhandler is not just a beggar but a child of God. A homeless person is not an outcast, but someone God loves. God loves all of us, not just me.<\/p>\n

Am I jealous that God loves others as much as me? I shouldn\u2019t be \u2013 not when I fully understand God\u2019s capacity for love. God can love all of us and still have a special, intimate relationship with each one as an individual. That\u2019s just how great He is!<\/p>\n

When we realize how much God loves us and how great He is, we don\u2019t just want Him to be part of our world; we want Him to be at its core and center. Apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) In Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28) We want to stay connected through prayer. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) His thoughts are not our thoughts, so we try to align to His way of thinking. (Isaiah 55:8) This is accomplished by internalizing and writing His words on our heart. (Proverbs 7:1-3) We meditate on scripture and apply it to our lives. (Psalm 119:15)<\/p>\n

God knows everything and we don\u2019t, so we want His will to supersede ours. (Luke 22:42) He has only our best interests in mind, so we adjust to what God wants to do, not what we want to do. Our agendas decrease as His become more manifest. We focus on Christ because that\u2019s how we survive.<\/p>\n

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Remember the example of Peter? As long as he stayed focused on Christ, he walked on water. When his attention shifted off Christ, he began to sink. (Matthew 14:30)<\/p>\n

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Consider this\u2026As our personal lives become more God-centered, we notice our perspectives slowly changing. We start seeing the world around us through God\u2019s eyes instead of our own. We realize we were created by God and for Him, so we actually start thinking about God more than self. (Colossians 1:16)<\/p>\n

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I must admit, I still struggle with wanting my world to revolve around ME. However, in my heart I know it\u2019s not about ME; it\u2019s all about God!<\/p>\n

Two final thoughts<\/strong>\u2026If it\u2019s all about ME, then where is space for others? Could it be that I am not as important as I think I am?<\/p>\n

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Choices change our lives\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren I hate to admit it, but my world tends to revolve around ME and all things related to ME \u2013 my home, my family, my community, my city, my state, my country, my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}