From My Daily Reading #10: It is not All About You (or Me)

Acts 8

It is human nature to make everything about ourselves.

My preferences, my goals, my dreams, my desires, my opinions, my truth, my problems.

Whether it is self promotion, self-confidence, or self determination, there are plenty of ways to make it all about the I/Me.

Yet the Bible teaches self-sacrifice, denying self, and even dying to self.

It teaches us to go the extra mile for others, and to not think more highly of ourselves than we aught to think.

In Acts 8 we see the contrast of the wickedness of selfish thinking as opposed to the Holy Spirit led push to make put the spotlight on others and more importantly Christ.

One of the main characters of chapter 8 is greedy selfish Simon the sorcerer, who was jealous of all the attention that Philip, and the rest of the apostles were getting while healing and performing miracles.  He even attempts to buy the power of God that the disciples were demonstrating.  And, for his selfish efforts and desires, he is severely rebuked by Peter.

On the other hand we see the disciples and early church learning for themselves that it is not all about them, but rather Christ and the Will of God

A few examples in this chapter:

The Mega-Church at Jerusalem became the scattered church at Jerusalem because of persecution, but more importantly because God wanted the gospel to spread throughout the world, not stay in one place.

And…

Philip leads an evangelistic explosion in Samaria, and instead of soaking in the fame of the work he was doing, the Spirit leads him into the desert to explain the scriptures so that one man can be saved.

So what is the point?  That it is not all about you/me.  The focus of our lives is not ourselves, but the cause of Christ and the spread of the Gospel message.

Even in the church world self often becomes the focus.   Many devotions, hymns, worship songs, and even much preaching is all about, look at me.

Yes our relationship with Christ must be personal, and God does many, many things for us.  Yes we can do all things, but through Christ.  Yes we have overcome the world, but because of Christ.

The key is Jesus, not self.

It must be Christ that is the focus of our lives.

It must be Christ that we promote.

It must be Christ that we emphasize

It must be Christ that we worship.

Our job as Christians is not to let the world see us, but rather that our lives would show the world Jesus Christ.