Forget You

 

    

Phil 2:2-4

 

then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. 3 Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. 4 Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

(THE MESSAGE)

 

Has there ever been a more self-centered culture than our own?  Every  magazine you pick up in the check-out line has self-focused articles headlining the entire front cover.  "Get What You Want out of Life." "Twenty Easy Steps to a New You."  "How to Get Fulfillment from Your Marriage."  You get the idea.  It is  about ME and how to get what I want, need, desire, and most importantly DESERVE!

 

The humanistic mindset has swept America, and unfortunately, has crept in the church as well.  Be honest here.  How many times have you gone to church hoping to "get a blessing"?  Hear a word you need?  Receive a word of appreciation for all you do? Get to sing the great new song you have been working on?

 

If  you are like the average Christian, you can probably admit that it happens pretty often.  Instead, when was the last time you went to church determined to find someone who needs a hug, an encouraging word, a prayer?  How often do you go into a restaurant and "sneak  pay" for someone's meal?  When was the last time you sacrificed money you had saved for something you wanted and met a need of a friend?

 

These questions  are meant to get us to thinking, not to be condemning.  Being a blessing is not something that just happens.  The best "blessers" I know are intentional givers who seek out opportunities to minister to a need.   After a while, it becomes a lifestyle of giving rather than getting.

 

Our attitude can be that if you do not "look out for Number One, no one else will."  But is that really the truth?  We have a heavenly Father who looks down  on each one of us, standing ready at any given moment to meet our need, to send a blessing or a word of encouragement our way.  He sees our sacrifices- those done in secret.  And He chooses to reward us openly. I  dare to postulate that if we will make it about Him and meeting the needs of others, He will see to our promotion, fulfillment and deepest needs.  We do not have to struggle to "get" the blessings of God.   He will add them to us effortlessly if we can just grab hold of the concept of being His hands extended in a hurting world.

 

Dear Lord, I repent of the sin of being self-focused. Help me to be more concerned  with Your Kingdom.  Thank you for being a loving Father and diligent provider.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.