Monday 16 March 2020

It's not about me

As a Christian, what is our purpose? What has God put us here on Earth for? Are we simply to worship Him? Love Him and praise Him? The angels are already doing that (probably better than us actually). Did He save me because I'm that important? Contrary to what all of us like to believe (or subconsciously believe), we are not the centre of God's attention. The Earth isn't the centre of our solar system. Our solar system isn't in the middle of the Milky Way galaxy. And the Milky Way isn't even in the centre of the universe! If there is one thing that astronomers have shown: we are not in the centre of anything, definitely not that important.

So it's not about me. Then what is it about? Well, we are meant to go into the world and tell others of the good news (Mark 16:15). So how do we do that? The simplest is showing God's love to a hurting world. Have extra money? Give some to those who need it. Got a car? Drive people around and especially, to church. Blessed with a gift you don't need? Find a use for it to be a blessing. Have talent? Use it to proclaim God's goodness, mercy & grace.

But it's not all about them either. We point them to God so they can them proclaim the goodness of God. A virtuous cycle continues until the whole world is praising His name. But we are also meant to give to one another. When we have a community, we show the world what God's love compels us to do and how powerful it can be to enable and lift up a family, a generation, an entire city. When we are compel by God's love, we will love others. We will give sacrificially. And who benefits? Everyone around and it'll come back to us.

But it's not just that. Ultimately, it is pointing back at Him; the author and finisher of our faith, our lives. The first and last, no one can compare to Him. Our testimonies proclaim of His generosity, His power, His majesty, His ability and definitely, His love. When we proclaim Him, the devil hears and shudders. When you hate someone, can you hear what is good about them? No, it is pain in the heart and a dagger through our heart. So when Satan hears of the goodness of God, we hurt him bad. We are advancing God's kingdom and Satan is forced to retreat.

This is a war that we are winning and will win at the end.
And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. - Matt 11:12 (NLT)
It's not about me; it's not about you; it's not about us. It's about pushing forward and bring Heaven down to Earth.