When I was in high school I felt like all eyes were on me. Now, that sounds crazy because I was nothing special. I mean, I was terrible at math, I got a lot of pink slips for being tardy, I couldn't diagram sentences well in English, much less in Spanish, and above all that people thought I talked funny (I didn't have a southern accent at all back then. Some people argue that I still don't today; however, my sister smiles a lot when I say stuff now, so I guess that means I do sound like a character from Mayberry every now and then). My point here is, regardless of talent or winsomeness, high school is one of those times when a kid can feel like all eyes truly are on them.
There are many awkward moments in this stage of life where it seems like it's all about you. Who you sit with at lunch is a big deal. What parking space you got and how you acted as you walked in from it was kind of important too. My thought bubble: "Did they see me? Did I look like an idiot? I'm sure I did. Crud. Maybe I can make up for it if I say something funny later. No, there's no making up for tripping on the curb and trying to act like it didn't happen."
It's so easy to get into the mindset that all eyes are on ourselves, especially when our eyes are looking inward. We're trying to figure out who we are, how we want to react to things, who we want to be seen as. Ok, wow, so maybe it's more than high school. Maybe this is something we struggle with all our lives.
While this is a normal struggle, this thought process oftentimes creeps into who we are as Christians. Suddenly Christianity becomes all about us. There are a host of comforting places in Scripture that very rightly describe God's love for us. There are 665 love verses in the Bible. 1 John 4:19 says that "we love because he first loved us." Think of the most passionate feeling of love you've ever experienced. Maybe you've had the feeling of your heart being ripped out at the loss of a love, or the pounding feeling of excitement over a new love. That is the way our God loves us, and I don't want to make light of it. These "love passages" are not mentioned without a challenge, though. Start looking them up. You will see how much God expects us to get our eyes off of ourselves and show love.
Read this passage: Philippians 2:1-8. This is about the humility of Christ. What is a Christian? One who is like Christ. Who does Christ have his eye on here? It's not himself. Paul describes our selfless savior saying "he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-8) It's not easy to follow a leader who makes less of themselves. Are we really following Jesus Christ? If not, who's example are we following?
Here is another passage: Isaiah 14:12-14. This one is about Satan. His eye is definitely on himself. He is so concerned about how high he can go and how well he will be positioned. This evil being was once an angel who led Heaven's worship of God; and being infatuated with himself became focused only on himself. Can you relate?
The question remains: Who are we more like?
Run! That's the first thought that comes into my mind after reading those passages next to each other. Run away from the "me" life and into the God life. If you are truly a Christ-follower, if your heart has really been regenerated, you will make much of God simply because he deserves the glory in your life. If we get the glory in our lives, then that is our instant reward. We have not only robbed the glory from God, there will also be no heavenly reward. I have been reminiscing about this recently--relating it to my own Christian walk. Our church just had a special Christmas presentation last month. The focus was on the Christmas story and the real gift of hope. I was in the band that played for these performances. The music was beautiful and I felt my heart was right. I was there to worship God and play skillfully for him. One of the nights someone told me that Kristian Stanfill dropped in and had been in the audience (for those of you who don't know who that is, the hyperlink is for you). Well, to be honest, the very first thought that popped into my head was "I wonder if he liked the keyboard guy" (me). Now, how can something like that come into the mind of someone who's heart was apparently fixed on Jesus? I'm being very open here, but I'm 99.8% sure that anyone else in the band--who knew who Kristian Stanfill was--had the same thought. "Did he see me?" How embarrassing to admit I think like that! Making much of myself. Being excited that Christianity had put me in a place where someone might spot me. We are all here on some level. We all fall short of being just like Christ. We all steal glory.
So what do we do with this information? Once our hearts are obedient to lift up the name of Jesus above our own, what does God do with that?
He doesn't make it easy. Loving people who don't love you is hard to do, and Jesus had something to say about it: "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?...And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?..." (Matthew 5:46-47). He's saying get out of your cliques and comfort zones! Christianity is not just for people in our church buildings, our schools, or our social circles. Christ is to be shared with those who do not love you. Some may even hate you! We are called to love. Not for our glory, but for his.
This is hard to do in all stages of life. I think back to high school and all of the social situations that made it even harder. We cannot make excuses for ourselves though. Jesus never made excuses; rather, he saw through his followers' excuses. Listen to this story: Mark 10:17-31. This man simply wanted to follow Jesus, and Jesus didn't say "sure! Glad to have you and your wealth on board! I'm looking forward to seeing you use your money and position to bring more people to me." Oh no he din't! Jesus is calling us to himself. Not to build ourselves up, make people like us, or continue on as an unchanged people. Jesus demands a radical change in calibration. Read Luke 6:22-26.
Now watch this and draw the parallel here:
Are we becoming so safe and so self-preserving that we aren't being used by God? I think most of us are. In fact, I think it's only a small percentage of us who actually walk the balance beam, and I think it's because we are afraid of what others might think. We're afraid that if we trip on the curb on the way into school that God will not use us to speak Truth into the lives of our classmates. We're just afraid.
I remember when I first started serving in the band at Ingleside. First of all, I don't know what I was thinking. I had no idea what I was doing. There was this other guy who used to play aux percussion and he was really, really good. I mean, he was cool. He could make conga drums sing...literally, it sounded like they were talking. It was pretty intimidating. I recall the first time I played in front of people with the rest of the band. My palms were wet with sweat and my eyes were looking all around to see who was watching me. It was kind of disastrous internally. Now, it must not have been that bad, because our worship pastor asked me back; but on the inside, I was fighting against trying to make much of myself in front of my peers and church family. If I could just go back and change that, I sure would. But there is no shame in coming from a place like that and now saying "God, you are my God. Not me. Not my talent. Not anyone else." God will give you what you need when you need it, and it will be given in a way that makes much of God.
Are you living a safe life, focused on yourself and your own well-being or popularity? Or are you truly following Christ? In other words, has your heart truly changed? Or are you the same person you were before you claimed to know God, just in a church environment? Are you producing good fruit? Matthew 7:18-23.
As you are going about your day, shopping, trying out for a band, writing your English paper, learning chemistry, running track, preparing for an internship, building your resume, whatever; don't forget to keep your eye on Jesus. When we do that, everything else falls into place. Our lives begin to make sense because our identity is in Christ. He is the sum.
There are many awkward moments in this stage of life where it seems like it's all about you. Who you sit with at lunch is a big deal. What parking space you got and how you acted as you walked in from it was kind of important too. My thought bubble: "Did they see me? Did I look like an idiot? I'm sure I did. Crud. Maybe I can make up for it if I say something funny later. No, there's no making up for tripping on the curb and trying to act like it didn't happen."
It's so easy to get into the mindset that all eyes are on ourselves, especially when our eyes are looking inward. We're trying to figure out who we are, how we want to react to things, who we want to be seen as. Ok, wow, so maybe it's more than high school. Maybe this is something we struggle with all our lives.
While this is a normal struggle, this thought process oftentimes creeps into who we are as Christians. Suddenly Christianity becomes all about us. There are a host of comforting places in Scripture that very rightly describe God's love for us. There are 665 love verses in the Bible. 1 John 4:19 says that "we love because he first loved us." Think of the most passionate feeling of love you've ever experienced. Maybe you've had the feeling of your heart being ripped out at the loss of a love, or the pounding feeling of excitement over a new love. That is the way our God loves us, and I don't want to make light of it. These "love passages" are not mentioned without a challenge, though. Start looking them up. You will see how much God expects us to get our eyes off of ourselves and show love.
Read this passage: Philippians 2:1-8. This is about the humility of Christ. What is a Christian? One who is like Christ. Who does Christ have his eye on here? It's not himself. Paul describes our selfless savior saying "he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-8) It's not easy to follow a leader who makes less of themselves. Are we really following Jesus Christ? If not, who's example are we following?
Here is another passage: Isaiah 14:12-14. This one is about Satan. His eye is definitely on himself. He is so concerned about how high he can go and how well he will be positioned. This evil being was once an angel who led Heaven's worship of God; and being infatuated with himself became focused only on himself. Can you relate?
The question remains: Who are we more like?
Run! That's the first thought that comes into my mind after reading those passages next to each other. Run away from the "me" life and into the God life. If you are truly a Christ-follower, if your heart has really been regenerated, you will make much of God simply because he deserves the glory in your life. If we get the glory in our lives, then that is our instant reward. We have not only robbed the glory from God, there will also be no heavenly reward. I have been reminiscing about this recently--relating it to my own Christian walk. Our church just had a special Christmas presentation last month. The focus was on the Christmas story and the real gift of hope. I was in the band that played for these performances. The music was beautiful and I felt my heart was right. I was there to worship God and play skillfully for him. One of the nights someone told me that Kristian Stanfill dropped in and had been in the audience (for those of you who don't know who that is, the hyperlink is for you). Well, to be honest, the very first thought that popped into my head was "I wonder if he liked the keyboard guy" (me). Now, how can something like that come into the mind of someone who's heart was apparently fixed on Jesus? I'm being very open here, but I'm 99.8% sure that anyone else in the band--who knew who Kristian Stanfill was--had the same thought. "Did he see me?" How embarrassing to admit I think like that! Making much of myself. Being excited that Christianity had put me in a place where someone might spot me. We are all here on some level. We all fall short of being just like Christ. We all steal glory.
So what do we do with this information? Once our hearts are obedient to lift up the name of Jesus above our own, what does God do with that?
He doesn't make it easy. Loving people who don't love you is hard to do, and Jesus had something to say about it: "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?...And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?..." (Matthew 5:46-47). He's saying get out of your cliques and comfort zones! Christianity is not just for people in our church buildings, our schools, or our social circles. Christ is to be shared with those who do not love you. Some may even hate you! We are called to love. Not for our glory, but for his.
This is hard to do in all stages of life. I think back to high school and all of the social situations that made it even harder. We cannot make excuses for ourselves though. Jesus never made excuses; rather, he saw through his followers' excuses. Listen to this story: Mark 10:17-31. This man simply wanted to follow Jesus, and Jesus didn't say "sure! Glad to have you and your wealth on board! I'm looking forward to seeing you use your money and position to bring more people to me." Oh no he din't! Jesus is calling us to himself. Not to build ourselves up, make people like us, or continue on as an unchanged people. Jesus demands a radical change in calibration. Read Luke 6:22-26.
Now watch this and draw the parallel here:
Are we becoming so safe and so self-preserving that we aren't being used by God? I think most of us are. In fact, I think it's only a small percentage of us who actually walk the balance beam, and I think it's because we are afraid of what others might think. We're afraid that if we trip on the curb on the way into school that God will not use us to speak Truth into the lives of our classmates. We're just afraid.
I remember when I first started serving in the band at Ingleside. First of all, I don't know what I was thinking. I had no idea what I was doing. There was this other guy who used to play aux percussion and he was really, really good. I mean, he was cool. He could make conga drums sing...literally, it sounded like they were talking. It was pretty intimidating. I recall the first time I played in front of people with the rest of the band. My palms were wet with sweat and my eyes were looking all around to see who was watching me. It was kind of disastrous internally. Now, it must not have been that bad, because our worship pastor asked me back; but on the inside, I was fighting against trying to make much of myself in front of my peers and church family. If I could just go back and change that, I sure would. But there is no shame in coming from a place like that and now saying "God, you are my God. Not me. Not my talent. Not anyone else." God will give you what you need when you need it, and it will be given in a way that makes much of God.
Are you living a safe life, focused on yourself and your own well-being or popularity? Or are you truly following Christ? In other words, has your heart truly changed? Or are you the same person you were before you claimed to know God, just in a church environment? Are you producing good fruit? Matthew 7:18-23.
As you are going about your day, shopping, trying out for a band, writing your English paper, learning chemistry, running track, preparing for an internship, building your resume, whatever; don't forget to keep your eye on Jesus. When we do that, everything else falls into place. Our lives begin to make sense because our identity is in Christ. He is the sum.
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