The Selfish Perspective

Something I have heard often is this constant use of I or me. It is always about what I have done for my relationship with Christ. It is the Westernized selfishness that I think really hinders the relationship Christ wants with us.

Creation of Humanity was not for our benefit. It was a fulfillment of what God had planned. God created humanity as a companion of sorts; however, the purpose of humanity was for the glory of God. When we look at creation as God wanting to create me because I am special we lose the important aspect that God created humanity in God’s image and likeness. God created us so that we may glorify God through our existence. We are not the Lord of God, but rather God is the Lord of All.

Worship of God is where we fall extremely short. We tend to emphasize the pastor, the worship team, that beautiful Student Pastor who is the best person on staff,  the building, stained glass, etc. We focus so much on the extra stuff that we forget the purpose of worship as a whole. This is why we have pictures of White Jesus. Christ was born in the Middle East and a Hebrew. His skin would have been dark, the likelihood of Christ having long hair is something that I have come to find as a misinterpretation, and Christ’s beautiful blue eyes were painted by a different artist. We focused on what we look like and made Christ look like a fallen world when Christ was the only person not marred by sin until His crucifixion.

We focus so heavily on the traditions and the order of service that we forget to realize that the purpose of worship is not the outline of the bulletin or rather or not we are going to get out in time to beat such and such church to the restaurant. We forget that it is not about the hour and a half long sermon that the pastor gives that causes us to be late, it is about the God that is worth so much more than just an hour and a half. It is about the God who is worth more than the words of the English language can describe.

Our selfishness has caused us to look to ourselves for salvation. It has caused us to demand God into a form of Deified Slavery and when God does not show up it is because God does not exist. We forget that God is in control and that God does not always do something our way, but of course if not then the “Great Deity” cannot exist or is dead. Much like a toddler throwing a tantrum when they do not get their way, we have fallen into a state of constant fits. Maybe instead of looking at ourselves as the measuring stick we look to Christ and the Cannon that is set before us and realize that we do not measure up. Maybe look to God in worship and beg for forgiveness as we realize that we do not make the mark to enter into the Kingdom of God. Maybe we praise Christ for paying for all those failures and turmoil that we caused. If we are going to talk about ourselves, then let us put ourselves back in the right place of the totem pole, at the bottom.

Christ is seeking for us to have a relationship with Him. God wants us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. God has so much that can be done through us. Yet, the only thing “I” needs is to accept the free gift of salvation that Christ has offered “I” then focus on God.