More of Him, Less Of Me
There are many things we can do in this life that would give us a sense of accomplishment. Higher education, awards, money, expensive cars or cloths, career success or any number of things. These things can make us feel proud, fulfilled or important. They can be things that prop us up and make us look good to those around us thus giving us a feeling of satisfaction.
Paul had much to brag about when it came to accomplishments in Judaism. He states in Philippians 3:4-6 he was circumcised on the eightieth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, regarding the law, a Pharisee, and he persecuted the Church out of zeal for his heritage. In Judaism he was considered righteous or good for these accomplishments.
Paul stated in Philippians 3:7-9 MSG “The very credentials these people (religious Pharisees) are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
We can do so many things that make us feel good about ourselves but as Paul stated it’s all really rubbish when compared to the righteousness we have in Christ Jesus. Righteousness is a feeling of being morally right or justifiable. Whatever we do, when we add it all up it’s no more than dung in comparison to what Jesus guaranteed us through accepting his sacrifice.
Nothing we have done will save us. Only the righteousness we gain through Jesus can save us or make us right before God in the end. We could all make a giant bonfire with our good deeds and accolades. As Paul said they don’t add up to anything worth having in comparison to knowing Jesus. Those things can make us feel good about who we are. Our insecurities force us to strive for a temporary fix to satisfy our longing to be accepted or fulfilled.
None of those things are wrong in and of themselves. It’s only when we depend on them to make us feel ok or good that they become worthless. It’s the heart intent behind what we do, the why. Do we do it for the Lord or to be seen by men who will give us the credit?
Jesus is our foundation that we build on. We can build with gold, silver or costly stones (good things while giving the credit to God) or we can build with wood, hay or stubble (deeds based in the flesh) 1 Corinthians 3:11-14. We can spend most of our lives chasing success only to find out in the end our success was nothing more than wood, hay and stubble that will be burned up leaving us empty handed.
It’s time to ask ourselves some tuff questions. Whatever we are striving to have or be, what is our why? Is it because we want to further the Kingdom or are we doing it to look good to those around us? Are Pastors bragging about their attendance because it makes them look special or because they are thankful for the souls added to the kingdom those numbers represent…When we do something do we feel the need to tell someone or are we satisfied when only Jesus knows?
It comes down to our hearts. I feel like this is the season for a deep heart check. It’s time to examine our “why” and make the hard heart adjustments that we need. Deep levels of humility are needed in this season. Pride will cause us to fall and fall hard. Our goal is to make Jesus famous, to set him up as high as we can and to make sure “me” is a distant shadow inside of his. To do that humility must be formed in us. Unfortunately, humility only comes through humiliation. #ouch
In these last days, we will see greater signs and wonders than this world has ever experienced. If we are still prideful it will destroy us. Absolutely nothing about our Christianity is about US. It’s not what we can do for God but about what he has already done for us in Christ. It’s about us making him known…like John the Baptist stated in John 3:30…”He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Father…our desire is to make you famous. To show a dying world who you are and how much you love them. Help us Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and make the changes we must make. Eradicate pride and selfishness from our hearts and replace them with humility and love. Help us to build on the foundation of Jesus in our lives with things that will last for eternity. May we decrease as you increase in every way….in Jesus name.