Oh, Jesus, Lord and Saviour I Give Myself To Thee!
Have you noticed even among Christians the culturally acquired need to put ourselves at the center?
On billboards advertising churches, we see the smiling face of their pastor. On Twitter or any social media, we will see people declaring they are all about Christ yet their posts always feature a selfie.
This self-centeredness goes back to the first sin. When Satan saw Adam and Eve’s vulnerabilities in the garden, notice what he says and how he says it: “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Reject him and his world, and all this could be yours.
Notice that Satan presents the same temptation to Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4:5–7).
Jesus came and died for all our prideful sins yet we still listen to the gospel of Satan and desire a story and a life centered on us. The gospel from beginning to end, the garden, the fall, the cross, outside the tomb, and into His glory lifts our eyes away from ourselves to God.
For God and Not Ourselves
Our culture today says our lives are about finding our passion, having time, and disregarding the needs of others.
The result has been family breakdown, low birth rates, fatherless children, and all the sin and sadness that goes with it.
Do you realize that when God wove you together in your mother’s womb, arms, legs, and personality — you were made in the image of God so that ultimately other people would see you and then worship God?
When God is the center of our lives we reflect his glory onto the people and world around us.
Redeemed
The reality of our existence is that we were made for God.
Each of us has rebelled against God and we deserve the wrath of God.
Spiritually from a very early age we are without wisdom, we are carnal.
We are born living for "me", and we grow up making our decisions based on what will serve, satisfy, and advance us in every area of life!
But when God's grace intervenes we are raised and taught to live for him. We will spend our time and money differently. Perhaps our neighbors, coworkers, and friends watch and wonder why we live the way we do.
Christ, the God Man put himself between the fallen image of God and the fierce wrath of God and did what only God could possibly do. He sent his Son into humanity to bleed and die in our place so that we might after death sit with him“to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6).
You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. . . . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:1–5)
Your death is approaching, someday when you least expect it. Maybe tomorrow or ten years from now.
Where will you be after you die?
God has prepared a place for us, for all that put aside self, and give all to Christ.
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3)
You can begin to die to yourself by crying out to God for forgiveness of your sins and praying for the strength to repent and change the way to think and what you do. A daily relationship with God will eventually to being selfless and serving God and others! Don't wait!