Friday, January 23, 2015

In the beginning, GOD... | More of HIM less of ME

In the beginning, GOD... Genesis 1:1 talks about God's creation as the beginning of everything.
This post, however, is not about Creation, or Genesis, but it is about redefining WHO is at the center of our relationship with God.



The Problem


Whenever a debate between two professing Christians appear, there is a battle of who knows the bible more, or who does more and all that. The holier-than-thou-attitude goes out. The I am better than you pride appears. The elder brother sickness shows itself.
You will see comments such as "are you going out for soulwinning?" to "how many people have you shared the Gospel with already?" Sometimes even this! "How many souls have you saved" Like, really? It becomes "I did this, what about you?" They even belittle your involvement in the ministry when (for example) you are in the music ministry and they are in the soul winning ministry, thinking it is more superior than "small time" ministries. They might have forgotten about this verse.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith;and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."  -Ephesians 2:8-9 
Even I, when I was younger have also thought about being better than others. I have already talked about it in a small portion in this post Influences in teaching.

Not only a debate between two Christians, but even when a Christian confronts a "sinner" or a non-Christian about their actions, there is this "judgement" that maybe undeserved or often also correct but said in a bad way. [ More of that in this post A dangerous "light" | Christians as a light or fire? ]

The Solution

The solution is found in Genesis 1:1, just the first four words. In the beginning, GOD. That's it. Think about it for a second. Before you were saved, GOD. Before you are doing your "good works", GOD. It begins with Him because it is about Him. 
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him." - Colossians 1:16
In my post Reading the Bible with Grace, I talked about changing our view on how we read the Bible. We often read it with "What must I do?"  but in reality, we should first ask "What has God done?" The main character shifts from ME, MYSELF and I to GOD.  It would change your mentality of "I must do this to earn God's favor, and He will do this for me" to "God has done this for me, so in return I will do this for Him." The same way, it would change us in how we view others. If we truly are impacted by God's grace, then we can show grace to other people. The I am better mentality will fade away. The elder brother sickness will be gone. There should be no holier-than-thou attitude when we deal with our Christian brothers and sisters. Is this a competition where we should be ahead than others? A contest to see who is better? No.

Now, think. Meditate and ask yourself, is God the center of my life? Am I making myself the center of my relationship with God? And lastly, don't forget to ask God for help in changing you. The moment you ask for help, and realize that God should be the one lifted up (and not you)  that is the moment you let go of pride and ego that makes you the center of your own tiny world.


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Here are books that I recommend regarding this post - THE PRODIGAL GOD, and COUNTERFEIT GODS both by Timothy Keller. JESUS IN EVERY PAGE by David Murray. If you are a reader here in Baguio-Benguet area and would want to read these books, I could lend it to you, just message me, mail me or through facebook :)

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