{"id":818,"date":"2015-02-13T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=818"},"modified":"2019-05-17T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T19:25:24","slug":"right-things-right-reasons-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2015\/02\/13\/right-things-right-reasons-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Things For The Right Reasons: Goals series part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsTitle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-819 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsTitle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsTitle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsTitle-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/todotobesunrayblog.jpg\">by <\/a><a title=\"About Lydia and Belovedlove\" href=\"http:\/\/www.belovedlove.org\/about.html\">Lydia Floren<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Can we learn to be free from our performance-based roots, and still be \u201cin the game\u201d of life?<\/strong> Yes. Paul advised this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Don&#8217;t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God <strong>transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.<\/strong> Then you will learn to know God&#8217;s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/romans\/12-2.htm\">Romans 12:2<\/a> NLT<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Transformation of the way we think is crucial to following God<\/strong>. First this involves a change of focus, as we discussed in the last two blogs on goals. Instead of adopting our culture&#8217;s definition of \u201csuccess,\u201d we must <strong>embrace \u00a0the more compelling goal to \u201cmake love our aim.\u201d<\/strong> When we focus on things that matter for eternity, our \u201csuccess\u201d has far-reaching consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Every believer has at one time or another done this, at least for awhile. But <strong>it is easy to slip back into old performance-based habits, and just call them by a different name.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For example, we decide to follow Christ. We have a revelation, a turning. We have come to accept that not only is God real, but He truly rewards those who genuinely seek Him. But somewhere along the way, we have <strong>lost the vibrancy of those first days of faith, and we are back to the grind.<\/strong> It might be a different grind, but grind it is. Instead of sharing our faith or time, or money, or energy because we have been led by God to do so, we do so out of duty, guilt, or fear. Or if we don&#8217;t do these things we feel guilty because we &#8220;aren&#8217;t doing more.&#8221; We find ourselves in a different kind of competition, with a different kind of goal&#8211; to be a <strong>professional Christian<\/strong>\u2014The Best. And if we are honest with ourselves, we do it to remain a \u201cmember in good standing\u201d with whatever Christian community to whom we might be attached.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We are not alone in this<\/strong>. Since the first generation of believers, people have succumbed to the temptation to take matters back into their own hands, and revert to rules and regulations instead of being guided by God. This is what Paul referred to in the first part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Corinthians+13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1 Corinthians 13<\/a>: \u201cI can speak with the tongue of men and angels,\u201d Paul says, \u201cbut if I have not love, I am nothing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>We must choose to remain free<\/strong><br \/>\nWe must vigilantly g<strong>uard our freedom in Christ, and resist the temptation to reduce a life of following God to a set of rules.<\/strong> God simply doesn&#8217;t work that way. He is consistent in His character but unpredictable in his methods. We must remain committed to Him first, not bound to a standard or a norm, or we slide into the <a title=\"Escaping the Twilight Zone of Anxiety\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/12\/09\/escaping-twilight-zone-anxiety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pit of shoulds and coulds<\/a> all over again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. <a title=\"Galatians 5:1\" href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/galatians\/5-1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Galatians 5:1<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.&#8221; <a title=\"John 8:32\" href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/john\/8-32.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John 8:32<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. <a title=\"John 8:36\" href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/john\/8-36.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John 8:36<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Share with us: How are you choosing to remain free? We would love to hear from you.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsSunrayBlog.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-822 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsSunrayBlog.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsSunrayBlog.jpg 600w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsSunrayBlog-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/TheRightThingsSunrayBlog-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Recent posts: <a title=\"Beginning with the end in mind\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=813\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beginning With The End In Mi<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=813\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nd: Goal Series &#8211; Part II<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Taking Aim \u2013 Goal Series: Part I\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2015\/01\/31\/taking-aim-goal-series-part\/\">Taking Aim: Goal Series &#8211; Part I<\/a>,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lydia Floren Can we learn to be free from our performance-based roots, and still be \u201cin the game\u201d of life? Yes. Paul advised this: Don&#8217;t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,467,15,146],"tags":[99,68,310],"class_list":["post-818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calling","category-finding-direction","category-habits","category-time-management","tag-following-god","tag-habits","tag-time-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Right Things For The Right Reasons: Goals series part 3 - Belovedlove<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Transformation of the way we think is crucial to following God. 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