May 6 – Living Beyond Self

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in scripture and relevant
for.

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Today, May 6th, Living beyond
self what if one of the clearest

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signs of spiritual maturity is
not how much you know, but how

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much love shapes what you do
with what you know?

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It is possible to?
Be right and still hurt people.

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It is possible to be.
Gifted and still selfish.

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It is.
Possible to run fast but in the

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wrong direction.
Proverbs chapter 15 verses 20 to

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21 speaks about wisdom,
diligence, and the danger of

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foolishness.
First Corinthians chapter 8

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verses one to two says knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up.

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If anyone imagines that he knows
something he does not yet know,

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as he ought to know, then First
Corinthians Chapter 9 verses 24

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to 25 compares life to a race,
saying that runners run to

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receive a prize and every
athlete exercises self-control.

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That gives us a powerful picture
of Christian life.

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God is not just calling you to
avoid bad things.

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He is calling you to live with
purpose, to think about how your

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choices affect others, to use
your freedom with love to

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discipline your desires instead
of being dragged around by them.

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This matters in everyday life.
Before you post, ask if it

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builds up.
Before you speak, ask if love is

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guiding you.
Before you make a choice, ask

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whether it helps you run the
race God has marked out for you.

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Not every fun thing is fruitful.
Not every popular thing is wise.

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Not every freedom should be used
just because you have it.

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Living beyond self means
choosing long term faithfulness

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over short term attention.
It means saying no sometimes,

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not because God wants to ruin
your joy, but because He is

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training you for something
eternal.

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Let’s pray, Heavenly Father,
help me live beyond myself.

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Let love shape what I say, what
I choose, and how I treat

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others.
Give me self-control to run the

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race you have set before me.
Keep me from pride, impulse, and

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selfish freedom.
Teach me to build others up and

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to seek the eternal prize that
comes from following you

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faithfully in Jesus name, Amen.
What if the battles hitting your

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family are not random and your
home can become a place where

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darkness loses every right to
stay?

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The Secured Home is a powerful
six book prayer series for

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believers who want to guard
their households with biblical

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authority, peace and confidence
in Jesus Christ.

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Book 1, Guarded Thresholds,
fortifies every doorway, room,

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and entry point with prayerful
protection.

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Book 2, Cleansed Rooms, helps
reclaim spaces marked by fear,

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unrest, and spiritual
defilement.

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Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes
hidden access points and severs

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every agreement with darkness.
Book 4, Broken Assignments,

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confronts oppression, torment,
and attacks against your family.

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Book 5, Consecrated Walls,
dedicates every space and rhythm

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of the home to God.
Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how

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to maintain spiritual order,
rest, and holy presence every

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day.
Order now on Amazon or visit

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prayerscripts.org.
Now I invite you to spend time

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with God in today’s three-year
Bible reading plan.

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Proverbs chapter 15 verses 20 to
21 World English Bible A wise

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son makes a father glad, but a
foolish man despises his mother.

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Folly is joy to one who is void
of wisdom, but a man of

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understanding keeps his way
straight.

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First Corinthians chapters 8 to
9 World English Bible Now

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concerning things sacrifice to
idols.

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We know that we all have
knowledge.

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Knowledge puffs up, but love
builds up.

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But if anyone thinks that he
knows anything, he doesn’t yet

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know, as he ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, the

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same is known by him.
Therefore, concerning the eating

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of things sacrificed to idols,
we know that no idol is anything

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in the world, and that there is
no other God but one.

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For though there are things that
are called gods, whether in the

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heavens or on earth, as there
are many gods and many Lords,

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yet to us there is one God, the
Father, of whom are all things,

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and we for Him, and 1 Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom are all

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things, and we live through Him.
However, that knowledge isn’t in

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all men, but some with
consciousness of the idol, until

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now eat as of a thing sacrificed
to an idol, and their conscience

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being weak, is defiled.
But food will not commend us to

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God.
For neither if we don’t eat are

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we the worse, nor if we eat are
we the better.

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But be careful that by no means
does this liberty of yours

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become a stumbling block to the
weak.

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For if a man sees you who have
knowledge sitting in an idol’s

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temple, won’t his conscience, if
he is weak, be emboldened to eat

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things sacrificed to idols?
And through your knowledge he

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who is weak perishes the brother
for whose sake Christ died, thus

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sinning against the brothers and
wounding their conscience.

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When it is weak, you sin against
Christ.

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Therefore, if food causes my
brother to stumble, I will eat

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no meat forever more that I
don’t cause my brother to

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stumble.
Am I not free?

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Am I not an apostle?
Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ our

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Lord?
Aren’t you my work in the Lord?

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If to others I am not an apostle
yet, at least I am to you, for

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you are the seal of my
apostleship in the Lord.

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My defense to those who examine
me is this Have we no right to

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eat and to drink?
Have we no right to take along a

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wife who is a believer, even as
the rest of the apostles and the

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brothers of the Lord and Cephas,
or have only bar Nabas, and I

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know right to not work?
What soldier ever serves at his

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own expense who plants a
vineyard and doesn’t eat of its

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fruit?
Or who feeds A flock and doesn’t

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drink from the flock’s milk?
Do I speak these things

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according to the ways of men, or
doesn’t the Law also say the

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same thing?
For it is written in the law of

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Moses.
You shall not muzzle an ox while

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it treads out the grain.
Is it for the oxen that God

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cares, or does he say it
assuredly for our sake?

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Yes, it was written for our
sake, because he who ploughs

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ought to plough in hope, and he
who threshes in hope should

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partake of his hope.
If we sowed to you spiritual

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things, is it a great thing if
we reap your fleshly things?

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If others partake of this right
over you, don’t we yet more?

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Nevertheless, we didn’t use this
right, but we bear all things

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that we may cause no hindrance
to the good news of Christ.

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Don’t you know that those who
serve around sacred things eat

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from the things of the temple,
and those who wait on the altar

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have their portion with the
altar?

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Even so, the Lord ordained that
those who proclaim the good news

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should live from the good news.
But I have used none of these

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things, and I don’t write these
things that it may be done so in

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my case, For I would rather die
than that anyone should make my

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boasting void.
For if I preach the good news, I

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have nothing to boast about, for
necessity is laid on me.

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But woe is to me if I don’t
preach the good news.

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For if I do this, of my own will
I have a reward, but if not of

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my own will I have a stewardship
entrusted to me.

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What then is my reward?
That when I preach the good

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news, I may present the good
news of Christ without charge,

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so as not to abuse my authority
in the good news.

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For though I was free from all,
I brought myself under bondage

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to all that I might gain the
more to the Jews I became as a

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Jew.
That I might gain Jews to those

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who are under the law as under
the law.

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That I might gain those who are
under the law to those who are

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without law as without law, not
being without law toward God,

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but under law toward Christ.
That I might win those who are

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without law to the weak I became
as weak.

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That I might gain the weak.
I have become all things to all

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men, that I may by all means
save some.

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Now I do this for the sake of
the good news, that I may be a

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joint partaker of it.
Don’t you know that those who

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run in a race all run but one
receives the prize?

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Run like that, that you may win.
Every man who strives in the

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games exercises self-control in
all things.

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Now they do it to receive a
corruptible crown, but we an

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incorruptible.
I therefore run like that, not

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aimlessly, I fight like that,
not beating the air, but I beat

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my body and bring it into
submission, lest by any means,

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after I have preached to others,
I myself should be rejected.

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Thanks for joining us on Bible
Chat, where Scripture meets

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everyday life.
If today’s devotional encouraged

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you, share it with a friend and
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you won’t miss the next
conversation.

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Until next time, stay rooted in
truth, anchored in hope, and

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walking daily with.
Jesus.