This week I’ve been floored by how much of my Christian life is all about me.
I’m certain that I don’t see this reflected in scripture, yet
- A huge number of my “worship” songs are about what God does for me.
- My giving has as much to do with the good feeling I get as it does helping others
1 Samuel 30:6 says that David “encouraged himself” (KJV) or “found strength in the Lord” (most of the rest of the translations).
I think the different ways of reading this might show us the different parts of our humanity. Do we come to God to make ourselves okay – to get the happy highs – or do we come to God to be strengthened, be repaired, to become more like Him, and to help those around us get a glimpse of who He is?
I think there is a balance. We need to admit that sometimes, we need to remember that God loves us personally. However, as North American Christians, we can certainly spend more time being strengthened in order to make a difference.
In truth, when we give, we open the floodgates for God to fill us with more. So, is it all about me? Do I give to get, or do I give because God called me to?
2 Responses
God came to redeem people, so it is about us. But it’s about offering us the chance to share HIS story, not our chance to initiate something (or remake Him in our image). The fascinating thing about reading scripture is how we automatically compare it to ourselves rather than comparing ourselves to God and his expectations (which is clearly the message). For example: how do we read Revelation: “What’s going to happen to me and mine?” or do we read it as the broad story of God among us and God as triumphant over wickedness and evil systems? Most of the seminars on “end times” speculate about our part of the story, right?
So true Rosemarie!