Jehovah Jireh: The Provider of Self-Actualization
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called the heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
When
God created the world, He devised a plan to have a universe where man could
live in total harmony with each other, and most importantly, have a relationship
with Him as his Creator. Being made in the image of God meant that man was not
God nor equal to Him but was created in God’s likeness. Therefore, when Lucifer
thought that he could be equal to God, he was out of divine order. When we come
to understand that we are made in God’s image, we can also believe that we were
created for a purpose. The Bible says, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O Lord endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hand” (Psalm
138:8). God’s purpose for our lives outweighs any selfish goals and
achievements because His will is to be done. We must allow Him to guide our
lives and in so doing, we will achieve self-actualization through the Spirit
and not as the world perceives it to be.
The
world says that we must have these many cars, the fanciest home, this much money in the bank, the latest technical gadget, and/or designer
clothes. Countless people have achieved many material things, and yet,
they have not achieved self-actualization because they feel the need to always obtain more. They are in a continuous rat race to keep up with what they consider as the latest commodity but are empty shells of themselves. However, we should not align our thoughts
about ourselves as the world does -- based on material possessions but we should view ourselves as Jehovah Jireh sees us. He is the one who created and provides for us. The Bible says, “Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his
good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
When
we are in the will of God, that is when we can have self-fulfillment. Nothing
can give you a sense of self-actualization as knowing that you are doing what
is pleasing to God. It is not about being perfect or never doing anything
wrong. It is about knowing that we have a God who provides us with mercy, grace, and unlimited amounts of forgiveness. Understanding that we are not failures in Christ, despite our
mistakes, is to have the ultimate sense of self-actualization because we lay everything at Jehovah Jireh's feet. God uses our mistakes
to turn us into masterpieces, and through Jehovah Jireh’s provisions, we have
all we need to be fulfilled in Him. The Bible says, “Examine
yourselves to see whether you are in faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize
that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust
that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God
that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have
stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to
have failed” (2 Corinthians 13:5-7).
No comments:
Post a Comment