Observations:
I asked myself what 3 warnings do we need to be aware of from God's Word?

I love how God's Word gives us 3 warnings for our time in the 21st century:
1. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
2. For the time will come when people will do things to suit their own desires.
3. For the time will come when people will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Today, I decided to look at warning 2.

I asked myself what does it mean 'for the time will come when people will do things to suit their own desires'?
People's actions will not be reflective of the Word of God but what pleases their own desires. The motto to live by becomes for my glory & happiness and for my self-satisfaction & happiness instead of for His Glory and joy. The question people will ask themselves is, 'Will this action suit the desires I have?' If the answer is 'Yes', then they would react to accomplish it, even if it will go against the Word of God and sound doctrine. .

Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. I am not to live and do things to suit my own desires but to live according to the Word of God in every area. For the Word of God is the Pittsburgh Standard for Living, PA Standard for Living, U.S. Standard for Living, North American Standard for Living, World Standard for Living, and the Universe's Standard for Living. It should not matter where I live and where I am. When my purpose is for His Glory and Honor, then my desires would be in line with what Jesus wants for me. I can be confident those desires will come true as I wait upon the Lord. For the Word of the Lord says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!" (Psalm 37:4)

My own desires without the Lord on my side will be self-approval, self-centered, self-delighting, self-enlightenment, self-gratitude, self-interest, self-promoting, self-serving, self-satisfaction, etc. The sad thing is if I am not careful, to please my own desires, I can be in danger of using the Lord as an excuse to suit my own desires and let others know that I am serving the Lord by what I am doing when in fact it is for my own self-satisfaction.

While growing up, I am reminded of what my mommy told me about serving the Lord. The way to know whether we are really serving the Lord in our actions is when we serve others even when they cause us a lot of pain. That is true service that the Lord recognizes because we are serving those who are actually causing us pain when human desires want the opposite. Even when we want to serve the Lord, we want to serve those that make us feel good about ourselves, flatter us with words of affirmation, make us believe oh no what would I do without you, make us not want to leave them, etc. Anybody can do that. I believe truly serving the Lord is when we are there to serve those who give us extreme pain or it hurts to serve them because of all the baggage that comes from serving them.

When I have two choices where one choice will give me pleasure serving  while the other choice will not give me pleasure serving but is needed, I need to ask myself which one is really serving the Lord and which one is serving myself?

I am reminded of what Jesus said when He said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many!"

When I think about Jesus' life, it was marked with suffering. Jesus became a sufferering serving servant for the people. So, I know Jesus was truly serving the Father and doing the Lord's work. Jesus never did it for His own pleasure or glory but everything He did was for the Father's glory.

Do I do things for my own glory or for the Lord's glory?

If I am faced with two choices that look like I will be serving the Lord in both but one choice makes me very happy all the time but the other choice makes me miserable even being around that person to serve them, what should I choose?

I should choose the one that makes me miserable even being around that person to serve them. This way I will not be doing things to suit my own desires but doing things to suit the desires of the One that called me to serve.

Sadly, when it comes to family and ministry, there is such a danger when we do ministry thinking we are serving the Lord by doing it if it gives us so much happiness and pleasure to do it while our family suffers. Serving the Lord starts with serving the family He gave us first and foremost especially when it is painful. It amazes me how much time people will serve in ministry for others that make them happy but won't spend that same time in the family the Lord gave them to serve because there is a lot of baggage.

I loved Jesus' example about the demon possessed man in the tombs that was healed. When the man wanted to go with Jesus to serve the Lord, Jesus' response was not, 'Great, come on follow me' BUT go to your family and tell them what the Lord has done for you. Jesus wanted him to be restored to his family and serve them.

Even while doing ministry, it should never be to suit my own desires but to suit the Lord's desires. Sometimes that means serving the family in the Name of the Lord even when it is painful above serving in ministry in the Name of the Lord when it is pleasurable. When I have a painful choice and a pleasureable choice in ministry, I choose the painful choice because in my flesh, the pleasureable choice could be self-centered and the painful choice could be God-centered.

I love how my loving wife Chandraleela always has served someone who has given her extreme pain. I know she is doing the Lord's will here because her serving does not give her pleasure but so much pain because of the baggage and memories. Everytime I see her serve that person, my heart just melts to see her kindness. I know it is because of her love for the Lord Jesus and how my father-in-law raised her. My father-in-law raised her that even if a worst enemy needs serving, they need to be served for the Lord's sake.

I was always sadly fascinated why many pastors own kids rebel even when they have a thriving congregation and everyone loves them. It occurred to me that they could be serving the Lord in ministry but ignoring the family that the Lord gave them so they become jealous and rebel.

One thing I learned is when I am doing ministry as a calling from the Lord to serve, I need to ask myself if my family feels loved by me while doing ministry. If they don't then something is seriously wrong. When I was doing ministry, my dad was not pleased with me because he wanted me to do higher studies instead of ministry but he always knew that I loved him deeply and I would always be there for him. I never let ministry make my dad feel unloved. Sadly, that is not always the case when we do ministry. To suit our own desires for ministry, we can make others feel unloved. If that were to ever happen, then are we really serving the Lord or ourselves?

We need to be in the Word of God and in prayer a lot everyday we want to serve the Lord to know whether it is Christ-centered or self-centered.

When we ignore painful family relationships without reconciling when we could be serving the Lord that way and go serve XYZ, is it really serving the Lord?

For me it is not and I should never do that. What matters is not my feelings or your feelings but what the Word of God is telling you. If the Word of God tells you to give up your pleasure to serve the Lord, then you should do it! If the Word of God tells you to stay in the pain to serve the Lord then you should do it!

Can we ever serve the Lord and it be painful or pleasureable for us? Sure!

We need to let God's Word decide that! We need the Lord's help to wrestle with passages that talk about giving up family to serve the Lord. We need to know the intended meaning of those passages and should walk the road of suffering than pleasure if those are the choices. Always choose pain road over pleasureable road then you probably are doing the Lord's will over your own. I was so touched by a pastor who chose a small struggling congregation to pastor than a big mega church even though the mega church wanted him. This pastor chose pain over pleasure.

I ask you now dear friend, to suit your desires, what criteria do you use?
Dear friend, the world's criteria to suit our desires is what gives the maximum pleasure. The world says if pornography gives the maximum pleasure for you, then why should you stop yourself from experiencing it and give yourself pain. The world says if premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality gives the maximum pleasure for you, then why should you stop yourself from experiencing it and give yourself pain. The world says if abortion gives the maximum pleasure for you to enjoy life, then why should you stop yourself from keeping the baby and have pain. The world says if spending time with a friend to serve them will give you maximum pleasure why should you stop yourself from experiencing it when spending that same time with a family member to serve them gives them extreme pain. The world says if someone has shamed you, humiliated you, etc and vengeance in the name of bitterness, rage, anger, hatred, etc will give you the maxiumum pleasure to see the person suffer, why should you stop yourself from seeing their pain.  Yes, these are the criteria that the world uses to suit their desires.

"What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it because there is a whole army of evil desires within you? You want what you don't have, so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and cant' afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole aim is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure. You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband's enemies. Don't you realize that making friends with God's enemies--the evil pleasures of this world--makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God. Or what do you think the Scripture means when it says that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy? But He gives more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the Scripture says, God gives strength to the humble but sets Himself against the proud and haughty. So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to him." (James 4:1-8, TLB)

But if  we say that we are of the Lord and are serving Him, our criteria should be the criteria from the Word of God. It should be criteria that is marked with suffering and pain if that suffering and pain will make someone else feel loved and draw them closer to the Lord.

Our criteria for desries should be for His Honor and Glory and not ourselves. Ministry or family should never take place of the Lord. Those who love family over ministry, or ministry over family, or family over the Lord, or ministry over the Lord, have serious problems. The problems are revealed because there is no time with the Lord in prayer and mediation on His Word. We start doing things for the Lord instead of with the Lord. When we do things for the Lord our self is more involved than when we do things with the Lord. Jesus intervened in the lives of two sisters Mary and Martha. Martha was so busy preparing a meal for Jesus while Mary was with Jesus listening to Him at His feet. Martha got upset that Mary was not helping her and complained to Jesus. Jesus' response was, 'Mary has found what is right and I will not take it away from her.'

I want to share some questions to ponder with you and see how you would respond.

When we think we are serving the Lord by serving a friend but in the process are faced with persecution from our family that says, if you serve that friend, you can never see a particular family member, what would you do?

If you believed you were really serving the Lord, would you continue to serve the friend and give up the family member giving into the persecution? Why?

or

If you believed you were really serving the Lord, would you give up the friend so you can continue to see a particular family member because you realize serving the family member is serving the Lord too? Why?

or

If you believed you were really serving the Lord, would you continue to serve the friend but force your way to see the family member too even though you are forbidden to see the family member/s?  Why?

If you force your way to see the family member/s when you are forbidden to, are you not doing it for your own self-satisfaction and to suit your own desires? Why?

Serving the Lord is marked with suffering and sometimes that suffering can be within the family too. When we try to have both and obey God's Word in the first to serve but disobey God's Word in the second and force our way to see a family member, are we really serving the Lord or our own pleasure? Why?

Personally, I believe if we are called to do the Lord's work in any area and if the persecution means we are forbidden to see a family member then we should not find ways to see the family member unless we give up what we are doing. We cannot have both! Sadly, many times people want to have both. If our service to the Lord is genuine, sometimes it involves losing family and not finding ways to have both. People's requests need to be respected.

These are not just hypotheticals but happen in real life. I have a friend whose own mother and father did not come to his wedding because he married a Christian. He went ahead with the marriage without compromise.  Afterwards, it would be totally wrong of him to take his wife to a public place where he knows his parents would be so they can see his wife when they specifically did not come to the wedding because they did not want to see her. A better approach to show love to his parents would be to keep praying to the Lord for the day that the parents themselves would want to come and see his wife. This approach is God-centered while the other approach is self-centered for self-satisfaction.

True service to the Lord is shown in the pain we bear especially when it means we have to give up family. When we do have to give up family and we are really doing the Lord's work, the Lord will give us His joy and we won't destroy others happiness for our own self-satisfaction and pleasure.

My prayer is that our desires do not have to pit family against ministry, family against the Lord, etc. The Lord always needs to be first place in our lives without compromise, then comes family without compromise, then comes ministry without compromise, etc. But whatever path we choose the criteria needs to be from God's Word. We should be able to defend what we are doing is because of God's Word and not to suit our own desires.

May you use the criteria from God's Word for every desire that pops up so you are led, ministered, and taught by the Word of God which is the Pittsburgh Standard for Living and beyond!

"Desires Elevate Self, Instead React Exclaiming Savior!"(D.E.S.I.R.E.S)/"To suit your D.E.S.I.R.E.S, what criteria do you use?"

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, when it comes to desires, help us to seek you and not of ourselves. Forgive us when we look past you to suit our own desires that give us self-approval and self-satisfaction among other things. Help our calling to serve you be based on Scripture and not our own pleasure. Thank you Lord that you served us in your pain. Help us to do the same even though it is easy to serve others when they give us pleasure. Please let your Word be our standard for living wherever we are whether in Pittsburgh or to the ends of the earth. We need your help and wisdom to love our families and most of all that the family members will feel loved by us even in our serving. That can only happen with your wisdom. Let us never give up family in the name of serving unless you have explicitly given a command from your Word to do that. Let Your Word lead us, guide us, and teach us please. Thank you so much Jesus! In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!