Day 1 - It all starts with God

Colossians 1:16 - For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,...everything got started in him and finds its purpose in Him.

Question: How can I remind myself today that life is really about living for God, not myself?

Guideline: The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions.

When I think about this passage, it really gets me considering that the purpose transcends higher than what our life is composed of. I may sometimes feel like not being a good steward to other fellow Christians. My emotions sometimes try to take over my life, no matter what I do to try to prevent them. Most recently, a friend put a restraining order on me and made me feel like a threat to him. I went through a really emotional period, not knowing what my major course of action should be. By reading yesterday's Psalm 143, it marks where my heart's going. I long to be taught the Word of God and to apply it to my life. Through my prayers, I have been asking God about big life changes, such as considering where I'll be working at, the people I will meet, and a possible future wife. By submitting to God's will, things become more clearer for me. I'm not sure how I'm still able to feel excited for the Lord, even with the feeling of endless teachings by Calvary Chapel pastors and other great speakers.

I do have some reason to think that my actions will justify my faith. Am I doing this to appear righteous, or is this just for God's sake? My personality is something that I've been having a hard time defining. I've been trying to keep it real with everyone, and nothing abridged. I do have a sense of breaking down under negative reactions with people. I feel like shying away from them when things don't look good. It's weird how I felt so left out for a time being, like when people tell me to do stuff, I wonder if it was for them to get me involved or something.

I think I really had a hard time deciphering the good social context, as supposed to the bad ones. I guess in the general long run, it's seriously not going to matter whatever situations I come across. I'm not going to be able to hide from God. In a way, I feel that I was more braver last year because I didn't know what to expect from God. I also felt like I was on a more risky spiritual journey because I didn't feel well-grounded in the Scriptures. I really had some shaky moments where I opened up by over-reacting to different people. I had a really hard time listening to the pastor's messages, but I knew they were good and was so longing for it. The night of repentance from my built-up sins really changed my life, for being a believer all my life.