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It’s All About Me
Paul was writing to Gentile believers in or near Rome. These new Jesus followers had come out of an environment that was extremely self-indulgent. The gods they had previously worshiped were elevated in order to help with harvest, or fertility, or finances. It was a form of heathen worship that played into human desire to have all personal needs met. It was “all about me”… even the worship of gods and goddesses.
How is my worship of the One true God any different? God, bless my finances. God, give me a job. God, straighten out my kids. God, help me be a successful pastor! (and what does THAT mean?)
What did it mean for the Roman, Gentile Christians to stop making it all about “me”?
What would it mean for ME to stop conforming to the world’s patterns designed specifically for ME? It must be about sacrifice, right? In fact, Paul points to a living sacrifice in Romans 12:1. Sacrificing ME so others can be elevated is worship. Downgrading my status so someone else can be upgraded with the gospel of Jesus must be what this is all about. Hmmm…
But how do I do this? I’ve got to adjust my thinking… off of myself and onto somebody else. I need to renew my mind. This is exactly why I loved the Advent Conspiracy video we’ve been showing at Cumberland. It changed and renewed our thinking. We could either spend $10 billion to give everyone in the world water, or we Americans could spend our normal $450 billion at Christmas time to ensure we have enough garage sale fodder for the Spring. Here’s that video:
embedded by Embedded Video
And what if I could actually accomplish all of this? What if I could stop making it all about me, transform my lifestyle and my thinking… what could be the end result?
Whoa… hang on for this one. I think it’s possible for us to begin catching a glimpse of what God is up to on a very grand scale. How would you like to see what God is doing in Atlanta, Smyrna, our church, and your family? How would you like to have spiritual eyes that can see what God sees?
By becoming a living sacrifice that moves beyond “me,” we’re able to test and approve (dokimaz?: to recognize as genuine) what God is up to. How cool is that? I want that! God help ME to be less concerned about ME by renewing my mind about THEE so I can see and explore the power of the supernatural WE.
One thing that prevents us, I think, is assuming we already do this. I think most “church going folk” automatically think, “yep, I put others first!” without REALLY thinking about what that looks like, or what that means. Because when we do that we realize that it’s more difficult than it sounds. Our culture doesn’t reinforce the value of putting others first. And we are immersed in our culture, and have to resist being products of our culture. Only God can help us do this.
When we start asking God to show us these grand scale glimpses that He has for our community and our world, that’s when things start rockin’. I pray that we (as a church body) would join Him in that mission!!
With the idea that being transformed is a process, I’ve had the thought that the result (seeing with God’s eye’s) might also be a process. A poet friend, Malcomb Childers, once wrote that “we all choose how wide we want to open our eyes”. I wonder if there are degrees to which we choose to be a sacrifice. Do I have my arms on the alter, but not my legs – my service, but not my mind. Is it possible that God only opens my eyes to His will to the same degree that I have my whole self on the alter?
Of course, the problem with this idea is how do you half-slaughter a goat? How do you half-burn a bull? Seems like a half-sacrifice leaves the animal worse off than if it had never been sacrificed at all. And it paints a demented picture of Jesus one-and-for-all sacrifice.
God help us to be totally consumed in the flames.
I think our culture tends to lean towards a “Hey, look what I did!”, “Yep, I did that.” frame of mind way to much rather than just doing something for someone else without contemplating how favorably “they” will look to the rest of the world. That is a major stumbling block.
I’ve been hit with the following passage twice in the last month…I’m starting to get the hint…
Galatians 6:14 -”May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Just thought I would share: Has anyone else heard of the book: Generation Me by Jean M. Twenge.
It’s apparently a summary of the responses of 1.3 million young people that was researched for 13 years.
The author states: “We live in a time when high self-esteem is encouraged from childhood, when young people have more freedom and independence than ever, but also far more depression, anxiety, cynicism, and loneliness. Today’s young people have been raised to aim for the stars at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get into college, find a good job, and afford a house. Their expectations are very high just as the world is becoming more competitive, so there’s a huge clash between their expectations and reality. More than any other generation in history, the children of Baby Boomers are disappointed by what they find when they arrive at adulthood.” “Generation Me has never known a world that put duty before self, and believes that the needs of the individual should come first. This is not the same thing as being selfish – it is captured, instead, in the phrases we so often hear: “Be yourself,” “Believe in yourself,” “You must love yourself before you can love someone else.”
Tying back to the devotional we can see this is really nothing new. It’s not just “today’s young people”.
This whole flesh first thing has been going on a long time.
So, when and where does the change start? Today, Within ourselves.
Awesome dialogue…thanks for getting it started Alan. To go off of something both Jon G. and Megarita referenced, I think one of the things that prevents us from really getting beyond “me” in our comfy churchdom world is that instead of looking to Christ as the point of reference, we more often look at the world to direct and validate our actinos…the very thing that is keeping us from being more Christ-like. As a result, we are either becom proud of ourselves or depressed…but regardless, the focus for both is still back to “me”. Can someone say “Biblical Worldview”?!
I am sick of me. I am tired of the self-awareness that blinds me to my real self. I am tired of me-gazing, and the perpetual self-analysis of what “me” does. I am tired of trying to present “me” as a living sacrifice, and I am tired of not being a living sacrifice while at the same time, being dead to myself. I am tired of being aware that I am sacrificing – doesn’t the awareness in a sense belie the offering? Shouldn’t sacrifice be like breathing if Christ is in me? I want to be unaware of me and only aware of Him. In this paragraph, I count 19 personal pronoun references explicit and implied, and only three references to Christ. Isn’t that the problem? LORD, transform me, as we renew my mind!