Get Over Yourself
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.”
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-2
The Philippines is known to be the selfie capital of the world. We all love taking selfies. It seems ingrained in us. But is this really because we want to share the moment with people, or is it more self-directed? Do we post because we want to put ourselves at the forefront of things?
The Bible says that in the last days people are going to be lovers of themselves—this includes Christians. When we go to church, are we preoccupied with selfdirected thoughts like, “I hope I get the best parking spot”, “I hope they sing my favorite worship song”, “I don’t want to get stuck in traffic leaving church later, so I’d better leave now while everybody else is still singing the final song”?
Let us instead become a church where everyone gets pre-occupied with pleasing God. May thoughts that dominate our minds at church service next time will be more Jesus-focused such as “Lord, I hope You will use me to bless someone today—I’ll park farther so someone else can have closer access to the church building”, “I want to please God with my singing, so I’ll sing my best for Him”, “I know parking and traffic will be difficult later, but that’s nothing compared to what Jesus suffered for me on the cross”.
You’d think that those who deny themselves and put other’s needs first will feel like losers. In reality, the most miserable people are those unable to get out of a “selfie” mode.
The secret of true joy is to take our eyes off ourselves and see something else, something more beautiful. David says this in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” We need to stare at Jesus. We need to push that the selfie busy looking at a mirror? They aren’t doing anything except staring at mode button off, and instead picture God in all His majestic beauty in Christ.
In Matthew 6:10, The Lord’s Prayer says, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Our actions on earth will reflect what we will be doing in heaven. What are they doing in heaven? Revelation 5:11-14 says “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures kept saying, ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.”
What are they doing in heaven? Are they busy looking at a mirror? They aren’t doing anything except staring at God, worshipping Him. Do you want to do God’s will on God, worshipping Him. Do you want to do God’s will on earth as it is being done in heaven? Then take your eyes off yourself, look at God, and look at others and how you can help them see God.
Philippians 2:1-3 says, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Don’t do anything from selfish ambition. Do things to bless others. Get over yourself and love others. Jesus didn’t come to earth to be served. Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves.
Have we been selfish in our expectations about church and people? Hebrews 5:12-14 says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” The writer is saying that if you have been coming and attending church for so long, you should be a teacher by now, and yet, a majority of churchgoers “suck” because we depend on milk being fed to us by our pastors, disciplers, partners, parents, podcasts. We blame them for our lack of growth or productivity in the Christian life, “you didn’t feed me enough”. We end up sucking the life out of people!
But if Jesus is our Shepherd, our “cup will overflow” (Psalm 23:5) and we will be a life-giving spring instead of dry, broken containers (Jeremiah 2:13) always needy of other people to fill us up. When we overflow with God’s love through our constant personal interaction with Jesus (through His Word and in prayer), we will be splashing life all over the place! We will splash life into our families, our Dgroup members, our neighbors, even strangers.
When we put our faith in Jesus, on what he accomplished for us by his death on the cross, “rivers of living water will flow from within” us (John 7:38). The truth is that we experience the greatest love of all not by loving ourselves, but by getting filled with God’s overflowing love so that we can love Him back and love others unselfishly.
- from 4W's