It is SO easy to make things “all about me.” Especially in today’s world. We are being bombarded with messages that it is all about us, we should all be doing what is best for us and we should never have to be in difficult situations.
After the depression, wars and the baby boom, parents have slowly – with each generation – tried to keep their children from experiencing the hardships that they had to endure. Yes, we hope our children have a better life, but if we keep them from all hardship, how will they ever grow, persevere and understand their need for a savior?
THAT is the reality of the American church today – we don’t understand our need for a savior. We like the idea of a God that loves us unconditionally, has a beautiful paradise prepared for us in Heaven and tells us things like “I have plans to prosper you” and “ask for whatever you wish and it will be given” but we don’t want a God that tells us how to live, holds us accountable or wants us to want Him more than we want our own needs.
Judges 21:25 says, “In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did whatever seemed right to Him.” Sound familiar?
So we can sit here and complain how the younger generations are lazy, entitled and rude and we can continue to blame the schools, the government or the internet…or we can do something about it.
You have a circle of influence. The family in your home, the people at work, the barista at the coffee shop, the cashier at the store, the person in the car next to you on the interstate.
Are you living, speaking, behaving (and FB posting) in a way that they see the love of Christ in you? Or are you more concerned about your agenda or your timeline?
Are you teaching your kids to think of others above themselves and to consider that everyone’s actions and words are an outpouring of their current situation or are you fine with your kids thinking they are better and more important than others?
Does kindness really matter or is it just a fun hashtag we add to what we post on Insta?
Being “ME-centric” is a world wide infection that not a single person is immune to. We are born infected with it. Ever watch a couple 1yr-olds fight over a sippy cup? We all, no matter how spiritual we feel we are, are all subject to being selfish at any given moment of any given day. This is the world we live in. So how do we move past it?
We can try, we can pray, we can ask for accountability. All good things, but eventually we will fail. We will try hard but get frustrated when someone cuts us off in traffic and will honk, yell and give hand gestures. We will pray, but then we will grow lazy or distracted. We will have accountability, but eventually we will get frustrated with that person and then start pointing out all the things they do wrong in their life.
We have to change our thinking. Last month, my pastor gave a sermon about being ambassadors. Did you know that US ambassadors are not elected, they’re chosen? Have you ever voted for the US ambassador to Kenya or Norway? No. They are chosen by the leaders of the United States to go and represent America on foreign soil. They go and live in a foreign land, amongst the foreigners for one reason – to do all they can to represent the United Stated of America, support their foreign relations and protect their US citizens in that land. They don’t get to promote their own personal agendas or live like they’re on vacation.
We are ambassadors for Christ. We were not elected by the pastors of our churches to be saved by Jesus. We were chosen and adopted into the family of Christ. We are not citizens of this world. We are here to live in this foreign broken land, do all we can to represent Christ, build relationships with those who are not in the Kingdom in the hopes of them seeing Christ in us and accepting what He did for them personally and make Him the Lord of their lives and we must encourage, support and cheer on the believers around us. We need to put our own agendas and emotions aside and stop living like we’re on vacation.
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