It's not about me...period

I love this verse from Galatians 2:20 " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Raise your right hand if you as a Christ follower believe this and live a self-less life. Sadly I can't even come close to raising my hand. I fail at this miserably. Yes, I understand that no one can honestly raise their hand and say that every day of their life they live it self-lessly. Now this is a result of the fall of man back in Genesis, but do we strive to live self-less lives is the question. These past lets say six or seven months the Lord has really been working on my heart about being self-less and understanding it's not about me. Now to alot of people this is just crazy...you may say well that's not possible b/c every way I turn people are telling me to do what makes me happy and to do what I want to do. Yes you are right. This world has become so self-absorbed and preaches the it's all about me mentality. This past fall in Auburn, Ashley and I took a class at our church called Perspectives: On the Christian World Movement. It was a phenomenal course. But something we learned and usually every time after we left we talked about it was: WOW I'm really starting to realize and understand it's not about me. Now coming to this realization was a big day...haven't fully accomplished this but I'm working on it and striving to make it part of who I am.

So what is life about then? Isaiah 43: 7 "..everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for MY GLORY, whom I formed and made." Hmm...so I'm here for His GLORY? Colossians 1: 16 says " For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and FOR HIM." For Him????? So there you go...life is about giving Glory to the one who created us.




Society has formed this Me Me Me attitude. We are ran by self-actualization. What is self-actualization? Self-actualization is: "What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization…It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."1
I'll let you ponder on this definition and form your own opinion what you think about it. Abraham Maslow came up with this theory of Hierarchy of Needs. Now this theory is taught in school and a lot of people go by this. Get this...research can not prove that this process is accurate or correct. Because it tickles peoples ears and it's about the individual people have fell in love with this idea. CRAZY!!!!!!

We are reading the book " In the Name of Jesus" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. It has some great quotes that I will leave with you. " But far more importantly, it is Jesus who heals, not I; Jesus who speaks words of truth, not I; Jesus who is Lord, not I."2 I thought Nouwen said this well as far as christian leaders " The way of the Christan leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said yes to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world."3

So as a believer living a life of counter-culturalism is the key. Not buying into the lies of the world about pointing all the fingers back to me. We are not here to store up and hoard everything we possibly can. I'm not saying you shouldn't have nice things or work towards bettering yourself educationally. I love nice things and seeking education is fundamental. But putting those nice things in front of God and making them your idols is what I'm talking about staying away from. This earth is a temporary place so why focus on the misery of it's all about me attitude. You are never satisfied when you seek the things of this earth. What are we doing with the blessing of nice things we have been given and what are we doing with our education? I lived this " all about me" life a long time so if you want to talk more then I can give you lots of insight to the misery that comes with living for yourself. So to Him be the Glory!! My prayer is that each day I die to self and live my life in a manner and way that honors and glorifies Christ.



1 Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50, 370-96.
2-3. Nouwen, H. (2002). In the Name of Jesus. 58.