i am at a place in life where it seems as if i lack the energy to write anything thought-provoking, but that's okay, i suppose.
In reading through the gospels over the last several weeks, i have been struck by a good many things regarding the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, but what has been most vivid is that Jesus was so immeasurably concerned with the well-being of people. It's one of those things that i've known in my head for long time, but i don't know, here it is. Somehow new.
We spend so much of our lives, whether in word or thought or deed, in some sort of introspective quicksand. We may even do something for someone else, but all the while we think, "But how does this make me look?" We spend time on facebook looking for good profile pictures. Of ourselves. We spend significant time every week looking at mirrors that reflect what we hope is an attractive self. We spend the weeks looking forward to a weekend that we hope brings relaxation, to ourselves. We write on blogs or in songs or we paint pictures or take pictures or make things or remake things, all the while hoping the artistic product will somehow reflect positively on the creator. i am only being honest. i see it everywhere. i see it in my own life. As a Christian, you can do "Christian" things that are received well by other Christians, all the while under the guise of "glorifying God with your gifts." But stop. i mean really stop and ask yourself this tough question: do you do what you do for you? or do you do it for the Creator? If no one else in the world could see what you do everyday, would you still do it? Because everything points back to Him eventually. He gets to have a capital C. He has overcome the world. He stood up in the temple and read a prophecy about Himself from Isaiah, sat down, said "Today this has been fulfilled in your presence," and that was His sermon. And it was better than any sermon you'll ever hear.
Do you see where i'm going with this? If Jesus be God, and if He is the Creator and Sustainer and the Reconciler of all things, and if His ministry consisted of putting sinful people and their best interests before His own life, then how arrogant are we to be so mindful of ourselves? There are people hurting in this world with a deep pain that we will never experience, and yet we think to ourselves that no one has it worse than us. There are people who must work multiple jobs to just put food on the table and a roof overhead for their families, and yet we complain and mourn the fact that we must work "long hours" and that nobody else really knows what it's like to go through "busy season." We choose to remain hurt in relationships because we like to play the victim rather than being a vehicle of reconciliation. We actually in some sick, disgusting way look forward to people hurting us so that we can hold it against them in the future. i do these things. i am selfish and petty and proud.
But Jesus is alive, though once dead. And He spurs us on, toward others. You see, you and i cannot effect change in ourselves, by ourselves. God changes us when we love Him and when we take His Love to the people around us. So let us stop being so self-focused, and let us decrease in every way. Let us subordinate our very selves to the King who would die a sinner's death on a rugged cross so that you and i might be counted righteous.
