A Self-Centered Life
In the cartoon “The Wizard of Id” the dwarfish king of Id enters the workshop of Wiz and finding him staring through a telescope asks, “whatcha looking for Wiz?” The astrologer answers, “The center of the universe.” The little king responds, “Speaking!” That is a powerful statement of self-centeredness.
In his best selling book “The Purpose Driven Life” Rick Warren opened with these lines, “I chose those four words—‘It’s not’—to start The Purpose Driven Life because that’s the most countercultural message you could give in today’s world. Nearly everything in society—songs, video games, TV shows, news stories, and advertisements—says you’ve got to think about yourself first.” He continued, “Our message is not about ourselves. It is about Jesus Christ as the Lord. We are your servants for his sake.”
The more you lead a self-focused life, the more you’re prone to discouragement. Every time you forget that it’s not about you, you’re going to get prideful or fearful or bitter. Those feelings will always lead to discouragement because they keep you focused on yourself.
Everybody needs strengthening and encouragement. Modern behaviorist Dale Carnegie said, “About three-fourths of the people you will ever meet are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you.”
A healthy minded person is empathetic. Being empathetic toward others requires one to put themselves in another person’s shoes and understand their feelings. Self-centered people may not be able to see things from another person’s perspective in order to empathize with them.
They may not be able to recognize that they’ve done something wrong and may blame others for any mistakes.
The actor who doesn’t respect the audience soon loses favor with them. So, the person who doesn’t respect his friendship circle soon loses favor with them.
“God does not exist to make a big deal out of us. We exist to make a big deal out of Him. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s all about Him,” wrote Max Lucado.
Embedded in the Book of Galatians is this gem worthy of emulating: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Focus your life on these principles.
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12: 3).
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13: 13).
After listing a triad of traits it is said of the three, faith, hope, and love it is said the greatest of these is love.
One day faith will become sight, hope will become reality, but love lasts forever. It is the greatest because it alone continues in heaven.
There will be no faith in heaven. Faith will have been fulfilled in time.
There will be no hope in heaven. There is nothing that could be hoped for. Reality will prevail. Remaining will be love, ultimate love, love on steroids.
It is easy to say, “I love you.” The challenge is in showing it. At a funeral conducted by an old retired mountain pastor he spoke of his neighbor saying, “He never told me he loved me, but I never doubted it because he showed it every day.” Love is an active verb, a thing you do. It can be communicated without a word being spoken. It is a sensation experienced though not spoken. It is good to articulate it, it is better to enact it.
David Simmons expressed love well: “Love is SACRIFICIAL Action! Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another’s account. Love is for you, not for me. Love gives; it doesn’t grab.”
The rest of the story by Dave involves his 5 and 8 year old children. He had taken them with him shopping. As they drove up to the mall they saw a special petting zoo set up for children to enjoy while parents shopped. Excitedly the children ask if they could go. He gave each a quarter to go. A few minutes later his daughter returned to him. Upon being asked why she didn’t go to the zoo she said, It cost 50 cents so she gave her brother her quarter so he could go. Then she repeated the family motto: “Love is action!” Having experienced it at home she showed it.
God showed us how to love by giving His love for us. He gave His only begotten Son not because we deserved it, but because we needed it, and His nature prompted it. Our new nature enables it. A worthy prayer is “Lord show your love through me.”
Let your heart sing with Jackie DeShannon from the early 80’s:
“Think of your fellow man lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart.
And the world will be a better place and the world will be a better place
For you and me you just wait and see. Put a little love in your heart.”
Now, enjoy the blessing of love and go out there and show it. Demonstrate “Love in Action.” Express it even if you don’t feel it, and soon you will begin to feel it. If you do, shortly you will be acknowledging, it sure does feel good to show love.
Oh Joy! Part Two
There are more than 650 Bible verses restricted to five key euphoric words: joy, rejoice, glad, happy, and delight. This indicates the life of joy is the intent of the Father. Jesus is the restorer of joy.
Holy vivacity reveals spiritual vigor and results in victory.
“Strength” translates to the Hebrew word “maoz” meaning “fortress.” Joy is a stronghold of the Lord.
In this fortress a New Testament principle prevails.
“Let the peace of God rule in your heart” (Col. 3: 15).
Robert Louis Stevenson said: “Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in good fortune or misfortune at their own private pace like the ticking of a clock during a thunderstorm.”
A classic example of this came out of World War II. A true American hero and his young companions were shot down over the Pacific ocean. Captain E One person said the difference in his life before knowing Christ and being saved is found in the letter “L.” He said before being saved he was in the ‘world” and after he was in the “word.” Eddie Rickenbacker and his crew were adrift on their tiny raft for 21 days. When asked how they survived he said, “We prayed.”
For days their bodies were cooked by the scorching sun. Heat, hunger, and exhaustion brought them to a breaking point. Rickenbacker learned to pray as a child at his mother’s knee. She thus gave him one of the greatest of gifts. It was in effect once again unwrapped on that raft. On the eighth day of their ordeal they were hungry, thirsty, and fearful for their lives. In this hopeless condition he read from his pocket New Testament these words of Jesus: “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on it… But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6: 25 & 33).
Needing food and water for their parched bodies they resolved to fix their minds on Christ and His righteousness.
What happened next they concluded to be a miracle. Out in that vast ocean a gull landed on Rickenbacker’s head providing food and fish bait for further food. Then came their first rainstorm providing fresh water. Believing God to be with them they calmed down and prayed with renewed confidence.
They continued to drift for two weeks, but clung to that text. To be rescued a plane would have to fly right over them in order to see them in that vast ocean. Sure enough one did.
After their rescue they said they “let the peace of God rule” in their hearts. This brings great joy to strengthen us.
Is there a decision you know would please the Lord?
If so, enjoy great joy in expressing it publicly NOW.
Oh Joy! Part One
At the birth of Jesus the angels said “I bring you good tidings of great joy.”
“Joy to the world the Lord has come.” Even if you don’t sing it, show it.
In walking in a public place recently have you seen anyone who looked joyful? Most look like the circumstances of life have sucked the joy out of them. Many faces appear to have hearts singing the Roy Owens and Roy Clark classic:
“Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me.”
We all have those valley of the shadow of death experiences, but we can come out of the valley refined by experiences therein with the Good Shepherd. Such is the appropriate response of the believer to shelter and strength provided by the Lord if theirs is a gestalt relationship with Him. Realizing “gestalt” is not a word in the working vocabulary of many it is worth noting it means two so closely identified they appear as one. When such is the believer’s experience it becomes clear what Jesus meant when He said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15: 11).
Adversity isn’t the adversary of joy, it is an advantage advanced by it.
It is as the lines from John Schiller’s poem added to Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” herald: “Joy! Joy! Joy, beautiful spark of Divinity, Daughter of Elysium, We enter, drunk with fire, Heavenly one, Thy sanctuary!”
“Ode to Joy” symbolizes hope, unity and fellowship. The poem is even more meaningful when it is realized Elysium is a place or state of perfect happiness; paradise; that is joy.
Being drunk with fire is comparable to today’s athletic metaphor of being all fired up. Joy enables such.
There are basically three types of joy.
There is the joy of salvation. The hearts of sinners erupt with joy when it is realized their sins are forgiven and heaven’s portal is open to them. Oh joy!
There is the joy of sincerity resulting when dedication to the Lord matures. This is a result of experience and knowledge showing forth the goodness of the Lord even in life’s darkest hour.
There is the joy of service rendered as a result of love for the Lord being experienced. It is an attitude of “What now, dear Lord, may I do to serve you.” Oh joy!
Throughout the Bible, there are stories of joy in response to God’s blessings and celebration of His promises. The same is true of persons caught up in the whirlwinds of difficulty. Our Lord enables us to navigate difficult situations without happiness while sustaining our joy.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15: 13). Oh joy!
Life to the Brim
“… teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” Psalm 90:12.
At the time of this writing it is my day number 33,790.
The essence of the verse is to stress the brevity of our life. When we live in harmony with the Lord, death is simply a change of address. Our enjoyment of Him continues unabated when we step from this life into eternity. “Teach us,” to reflect on the brevity of life, that we may “gain a heart of wisdom,” that is, a heart wise and understanding. Hopefully this post will encourage readers to consider that there is a limit to life, so live it wisely.
“For inevitably life is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90: 20).
The text notes our lives are seventy years. Moses lived 120 years according to Deuteronomy 31:2 and 34:7. He did not say seventy years as either a promise or a limit, but as a poetic estimate of a life span. The emphasis is on the futility of life; even if one should live past the norm of seventy years, the end of it comes. To live with dying thoughts is the way to die with living comforts.
We should deeply consider our own frailty, the shortness and uncertainty of life, that we may live for eternity, acquaint ourselves with the Lord and be at peace; that we may die in His favor and live and reign with Him eternally.
Let the grace of God in us produce the light of good works. And let Divine consolations put gladness into our hearts, and a luster upon our countenances. Instead of wasting our precious, fleeting days in pursuing fancies, which leave the possessors forever poor, let us seek the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance in heaven.
Jesus gave a parable that also explains what happens when we don’t “number our days.” In Luke 12:19–21 He describes a rich man who wanted only to “eat, drink, and be merry” and had no time or thought for God. The rich man believed he had years yet to enjoy his pleasures, but God required his soul that very night. If the rich man had learned to “number his days,” he would have pursued ventures that had eternal significance. We can learn from this parable that none of us know how many days we will be granted, so we must not waste them on silly, selfish pursuits that have no real value.
May no one consider this post as being morbid. Hopefully it will be encouragement to live life fully, getting all out that will be fulfilling to the individual and glorifying to the Lord. Enjoy life wisely.