"The Search for Significance" by Robert S. McGee

The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee

Significance: a sense of value, importance, and worth, having a meaning.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bearfruit-fruit that will last…John 15:16

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16

Wow!!! Wonderful!!! God’s definition of how significant I am to Him. This is beyond my wildest dreams! These versus are just a few that tell you and me how much we are worth- our significance- to God.

Where do you think you have looked to find significance?

What do you think you have tried to do to make you significant?

Additional Resource: Search For Significance Robert S. McGee

The Effectiveness of God's Way

Exodus 3:1-22

... we will see what God can do in the life of someone who is fully submitted to Him. If we let Moses' example teach us about the dangers of self-sufficiency and the advantages of depending on the Lord, we'll save ourselves a lot of hardship.

   When we submit to God's way, He'll do amazing things in and through our life. Despite past failures, Moses as still used n accomplishing the divine plan, but only after he became usable - that is, humbled and broken of his self-will. Just consider what God achieved when Moses relinquished control.

• He showed He could do great things through a yielded person.
• He got more done in less time and with fewer resources. There was no insurrection or lengthy war - just a dramatic display of His power.
• He proved the superiority of His was by freeing over two million people without the loss of a single Hebrew life.
• He sent slaves out of bondage with their captors' riches (Ex. 3:21-22)).
• He proved to both the Israelites and the Egyptians that He alone is the God of heaven and earth.
• He received all the glory.

   Our past failures never prevent God's willingness or ability to use us. In fact, our weakness is a great opportunity for the display of His power. In our own strength, we are totally ineffective. But when we submit to the Lord's authority in our life, we can experience His victory in whatever He calls us to do.

Stanley, Charles F. In Touch: Daily Readings for Devoted People. February 2016. Atlanta. page 9.

Are you secure? Are you significant?

   What would make you feel secure? What would make you feel significant?

Security – A sense of belonging, unconditional love, acceptance, connectedness, and protectedness.

Significance – A sense of value, importance, identity and separateness.

   We were created with certain needs. Needs that only God can meet. When I attempt to do it “my way,” I am acting in the flesh or as the old man or old nature.

   God is love. He designed you and me to need love so we would need HIM.

   Knowing nothing of God, but needing to be loved, we tried to “milk” our need-supply out of people. Little kids, being totally self-centered, learn about themselves from the feedback they get from others: They do not learn about others. If Mom doesn’t hug them, they learn “I’m unlovely,” not “Mom has difficulty expressing physical affection.”

   Our emotions began to be programmed by reacting to our belief system. We began to develop habit patterns that are programmed into our brain, patterns of thinking (mind), choosing (will), and feeling (emotions). These flesh patterns are currently how we get our needs meet our way.

“The women's needs can be summarized as the need for security… The men's needs can be summarized as the need for significance…”. His Needs, Her Needs, Willard Harley

   Trying to meet these needs within our own strength will only result in frustration. In our own strength, we are too empty and needy ourselves to be able to meet anyone else's needs.  Romans 8:6; 2 Corinthians 5:16

Source of Life Where Do I Look?

Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Genesis 2:8-9 “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:15-17 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’”

Genesis 3:5-6 “’For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it…”

Genesis 3:22 “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’” (NIV)

Secure Forever

Philippians 4:19; John 7:38-39

Additional Material

"Lifetime Guarantee" Bill Gillham

"The Ins and Out of Rejection" Charles R. Solomon

“The Search For Significance” Robert S. McGee

“The Reach of God’s Love” audio MD 146  1996 Dr. Charles Stanley

“Toxic Love” Malcolm Smith

“Overcoming the Flesh”  6 audio  Gillham

http://www.ficm.org

http://www.intouch.org

"Hiding Places" audio Patsy Clairmont, Focus on Family C5875 13351

Blackmon, Selma, editor. The Exchanged Life News. Volume 3 Issue 5. February 2, 2003.

Know Jesus Christ as Love

   1 John 5:1+ “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn't difficult. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God…” New Living Translation

   How will anyone know the love of God and know Christ as Savior without knowing who He is? How will anyone believe without studying the Word of God, the Bible?

   “There are many ways to study the Bible, and there are many excellent study aids available to help you with specific books of the Bible. But the most important thing you need to remember is that to find out what the Bible says, you need to read it yourself in a way that will help you discover what it says, what it means, and how you are to apply it to your life.” How to Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur.

   The following quotes are from www.joyfulheart.com. “A ‘deductive’ Bible study begins from a point that the teacher is trying to make, and then uses a number of scripture verses and examples to support that conclusion. Most sermons and Bible studies are conducted this way.

   An ‘Inductive’ Bible study, on the other hand begins with the raw text of scripture, and encourages participants to read the text and draw conclusions directly from the text itself… It trains people to ask questions which help them understand what is going on, what is being said, and how that relates to the rest of the passage.”

   Two authors who write on how to study using the inductive method of Bible study are Irving Jensen and Kay Arthur; or, how about searching the Web for more information.

   The site, shown to me by Al, www.e-sword.org is a great free Bible study. The following is a brief study using e-sword resources.

Analytical-Literal Translation

2Ti 2:15  Be eager [or, diligent] to present yourself approved to God [as] a worker with no need to be ashamed, cutting straight [fig., teaching accurately; or, interpreting correctly] the word of truth. 1965

1889 Darby Bible

2Ti 2:15  … cutting in a straight line the word of truth.

International Standard Version

2Ti 2:15  … handling the word of truth with precision.

New Living Translation

2Ti 2:15 …who correctly explains the word of truth.

Dividing G3718 Thayer Definition:

1) to cut straight, to cut straight ways

1a) to proceed on straight paths, hold a straight course, equiv. to doing right

2) to make straight and smooth, to handle aright, to teach the truth directly and correctly

Word G3056 Thayer Definition:

1) of speech

1a) a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea

1b) what someone has said

1b1) a word

1b2) the sayings of God

1b3) decree, mandate or order

1b4) of the moral precepts given by God

1b5) Old Testament prophecy given by the prophets

1b6) what is declared, a thought, declaration, aphorism, a weighty saying, a dictum, a maxim

1c) discourse

1c1) the act of speaking, speech

1c2) the faculty of speech, skill and practice in speaking

1c3) a kind or style of speaking

1c4) a continuous speaking discourse - instruction

1d) doctrine, teaching

1e) anything reported in speech; a narration, narrative

1f) matter under discussion, thing spoken of, affair, a matter in dispute, case, suit at law

1g) the thing spoken of or talked about; event, deed

Truth G225 Thayer Definition:

1) objectively

1a) what is true in any matter under consideration

1a1) truly, in truth, according to truth

1a2) of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly

1b) what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth

1b1) in the greatest latitude

1b2) the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention

1c) the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians

2) subjectively

2a) truth as a personal excellence

2a1) that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit

“…But the people who know their God will be strong and will work.”

Daniel 11:32b

Blackmon, Selma, editor. The Exchanged Life News. Volume 3 Issue 1. January 5, 2003.

"Humility" by Andrew Murray

More Gleanings from Humility by Andrew Murray

“Whosoever would be greatest among you, shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11)

   “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20)

   The only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer, but that which we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The insignificances of daily life are the importances and the tests of eternity because they prove what spirit really possesses us. (pg 44)

   The humble man seeks at all times to act on the rule, “In honor preferring one another; Serve one another; Each esteeming others better than himself; Submitting yourselves one to another.”(pg 46)

   Amid what are considered the temptations to impatience and touchiness, to hard thoughts and sharp words-which come from the failings and sins of fellow-Christians-the humble man carries the often repeated injunction in his heart, and shows it in his life: “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). He has learned that in putting on the Lord Jesus he has put on the heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering (Colossians 3:12). Jesus has taken the place of self, and it is not an Impossibility to forgive as Jesus forgave. (pg 47)

   May God teach us that our thoughts and words and feelings concerning our fellow-men are His test of our humility toward Him. May He teach us that our humility before Him is the only power that can enable us to be always humble with our fellow-men. Our humility must be the life of Christ, the Lamb of God, within us. (pg 56)

   It is not sin, but God’s grace showing a man and constantly reminding him what a sinner he was, that will keep him truly humble. (pg 64)

   Being occupied with self, even amid the deepest self-abhorrence, can never free us from self. It is the revelation of God, not only by the law condemning sin, but by His grace delivering from it, that will make us humble. (pg 65)

   Humility is simply the disposition which prepares the soul for living on trust. And every, even the most secret breathing of pride-in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation-is just the strengthening of that self which cannot enter into the Kingdom or possess the things of the Kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be what He is and must be-the all in all. (pg 68)

   “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death: (Philippians 2:8)

   Humility is the path to death, because in death it gives the highest proof of its perfection. Humility is the blossom of which death to self is the perfect fruit. Jesus humbled Himself unto death and opened the path in which we too must walk. As there was no way for Him to prove His surrender to God to the very uttermost, or to give up and rise out of His human nature to the glory of the Father, but through death, so it is with us, too. Humility must lead us to die to self. We must prove how wholly we have given ourselves up to it and to God. Only thus are we freed from fallen nature and find the path that leads to life in God, to that full birth of the new nature of which humility is the breath and the joy. (pg 73)

   The death of Jesus, once and forever, is our death to self. And the ascension of Jesus, His entering once and forever into the Holiest, has given us the Holy Spirit to communicate to us in power, and make the power of the death-life our very own. (pg 77)

   Accept with gratitude everything that God allows from within or without, from friend or enemy, in nature or in grace, to rind you of your need of humbling, and to help you to it. (pg 90)

   May God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His presence, is the highest attainment and the fullest blessing of the Christian life. He speaks to us: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isaiah 57:15) Be this our destiny!

Humility by Andrew Murray

How to be the greatest through humility

“Whosoever would be greatest among you, shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11)

Humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. Humility means the giving up of self and becoming perfect nothingness before God.

 Gleanings from Humility by Andrew Murray

   “Whosoever would be greatest among you, shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11). Jesus simply taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine and heavenly as being the servant and helper of all. The faithful servant who recognized his position finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the master or his guests. When we see that humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our participation in the life of Jesus, we will begin to learn that it is our true nobility. We will begin to understand that being servants of all is the highest fulfillment of our destiny, as men created in the image of God. (pg. 7)

   Our purpose for being…”…Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11) (pg 9)

   Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.

   And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. (pg 10) …evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end but from humility. (pg 97)

   Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others, it is the root of all, because it alone assumes the right attitude before God and allows Him as God to do all….It is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. (pg 12)

   …the first and chief mark of the relationship of man with God, the secret of his blessedness, is the humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all. (pg 13)

   It is from our pride we need, above everything, to be redeemed. (pg 16)

   Even as we need to look to the first Adam and his fall to know the power of the sin within us, we need to know well the Second Adam and His power to give within us a life of humility as real and abiding and overmastering as has been that of pride. We have our life from and in Christ…(pg 17)

   Christ found this life of entire self-renunciation, of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father’s will, to be one of perfect peace and joy. He lost nothing by giving everything to God…And because Christ had thus humbled Himself before God, and God was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble himself before men, too. He was able to be the Servant of all. His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow the Father to do in Him what He pleased, no matter what men around might say of Him, or do to Him. (pg 23)

   He teaches us where true humility takes its rise and finds its strength-in the knowledge that it is God who works all in all, that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves. This is the life Christ came to reveal and to imparta life in God that comes through death to sin and self. (pg 24)

   “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” God wants us to believe that Jesus means this! We all know what the character of a faithful servant or slave implies. Devotion to the master’s interests, thoughtful study and care to please him, delight in his prosperity and honor and happiness. There are servants on earth in whom these dispositions have been seen, and to whom the name of servant has never been anything but a glory.

   To many of us it has been a new joy in the Christian life to know that we may yield ourselves as servants, as slaves to God, and to find that His service is our highest liberty - the liberty from sin and self. (pg 31)