Lately I have been reflecting on all that I learned at my former church. Even though all that I learned there is not wrong, I do think that even the majority of the right things centered around "The Gospel of Me" and not the gospel of Christ.
The reason that I say this is that even though some things were correct, they were taught for the wrong reasons. Everything centered around the "Me" way of looking at things. WE needed to be blessed. WE needed nicer things. WE needed authority to make Our lives better. WE needed to look good and that would make others want to know Jesus. But it is not true.
As I read the gospels it is all about OTHERS. We should put OTHERS first. We should care about OTHERS. We should give to OTHERS. We should bless OTHERS. We should help OTHERS. We should esteem OTHERS above ourselves. All the power and authority and faith available to us through Jesus is not so WE can have everything we want....It is for OTHERS !!!!!!! We are to be looking for ways to SERVE OTHERS and not focus on ourselves.
We were taught that sin was no big thing as long as we were on the right path. The path to prospering. The path of tithing. The path of serving the church. Never mind that there was no ministry reaching out to the lost and hurting community. The lost and hurting community was to come to the church, get a vision of how their lives needed to be by looking at ours, tithe and give, get their words right and line up with how the pastor said it was supposed to be. Never mind that there were people being hurt and treated badly by those in the church.
Let me tell you, sin IS a big thing. Just ask those whose lives will never be the same as a result of the sin in the church. The gospel of ME doesn't want to hear or teach this truth.
I have decided to focus on the gospel of Jesus and throw the gospel of ME in the trash. I have decided that it is more important to be pure and holy than to be prosperous and say all the right things. I have decided that it is not all about ME but it is all about OTHERS. I have decided that I would rather be an example of humility than an example of pride, an example of love rather than prosperity. And for those who may not know, love is a verb. Just like faith without works is dead, love without corresponding action is not love.
I want others to want to know Jesus because of the way I ACT and not because they want what material things I have. I would rather have OTHERS in heaven with me later than have material things here on earth. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean living in poverty, Jesus said that as I seek first HIS kingdom then HE would provide for me. He is a good provider.
The gospel of ME wants me to focus on using my faith to provide for myself instead of just resting in the provision of God. I think that is exactly what the devil wants too. If he can get me focused on getting all I can from God for myself then I am no threat to him at all.
Let's come out of the fog of the gospel of ME and live in the light of the gospel of Christ.
A Reflector of His Bountifulness
11 years ago
4 comments:
Amen... Great Post! Thanks for all you are doing in order to get the truth out!
Good post! I can feel your passion about this. You're right. It's not all about ME. Christianity is about seeking God first and serving others.
What you wrote is so true! Satan could care less if people have material wealth...just look at the world! However what he does care about are christians snatching people from the kingdom of darkness. Just think how many more people we could influence and bring to know JESUS if we would quit being concerned about aquiring the newest designer taylor made suit or Prada purses for ourselves and started actively sharing the LOVE and GOODNESS of God with the world!! Its time for us to stop being selfish and grow up! I believe if we would get outside of ourself for just a minute and REALLY, REALLY focus on Jesus and our relationship with Him, we would start whole- heartedly striving to share Jesus and His redemption with everyone we came into contact with. That knowledge of having helped someone escape HELL for all of eternity would surpass any high we have ever experienced. Thank God there are churches out there preaching this. And thank God there are churches out there actually DOING this. The church I left rarely offered a salvation alter call. Why was this OK? I am so grateful that my eyes were opened to the truth and I pray that the hearts of those still practicing the "Gospel of ME" quickly change. Time is so short and we must not waste it.
I agree, I think that the gospel of ME is an extremely dangerous thing for a Christian to get caught up in. And I have been there done that. It begins to turn your focus off of Jesus and on stuff that "God" can get for you. What "God" is this? Money??? Seems like there is a Bible verse about serving God and money. Oh yeah, you can't serve 2 masters. Well the long and short of it is that the "God" of the gospel of ME doesn't match the God I read about in my Bible.
Anyways nice blog.
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