A Selfish God?

I (Aimee) recently had the question put to me whether God is selfish since He created us to bring glory to Himself.  If everything we do is supposed to bring honor and glory to God, and that is the way that God wants it, the way that He designed it, does that make Him selfish?  

 

I hesitated to answer for a moment, and then I said, “no, that doesn’t make Him selfish.”  At the time that I gave the answer, I felt that to be the truth.  However, if my friend had asked me to elaborate on my answer I wouldn’t have been able to.  Since then, I’ve been thinking about it, and I still think that the answer is “no.”  But now I think that I can explain why I believe that.

 

Let me offer an illustration: 

 

Once, a couple of years ago, my friend and I were going out on a very bright, very hot, summer day with her kids (my God-kids). When we stopped to get gas, she asked me if I would put sunblock on the kids while she pumped the gas. My Goddaughter was still very young at this point, so she pretty much just sat there and let me rub the lotion on her. My Godson, however, acted as if I were rubbing acid into his skin. He screamed and cried the entire time as if I were torturing him.

 

I had taken a moment to do the whole, “let me explain to you why I need to do this and how you will be much happier having had it than you will be if you don’t have it.” Usually he’s one of those kids for whom logic can work well. But still, he’s a kid, and there are times that logic just doesn’t fly. This was definitely one of those times. So, I informed him that I was going to put the sunblock on him anyway, and then I proceeded to do it. And he proceeded to scream and cry, as I already said.

 

When my friend was done pumping gas, she got in the car and started apologizing to me for asking me to do what turned out to be the harder job. I told her not to worry about it. I said that I had no problem doing what was best for them, whether they liked it or not. I can be fully sympathetic to their tears when they are hurt in some way. But tears aren’t going to turn me away from doing something that they need.

 

God is like that. Have you ever thought about how many times God does things for our own good, whether we like it or not. It’s a parental thing. When we do it, we reflect Him. It’s part of that whole being-made-in-the-image-of-God-thing.

 

So, the next time things don’t go exactly the way that you planned, take the time to think about the possibility that God may have just done what was best for you, whether you liked it or not. It just might be what happened.

 

Similarly, God draws us to Him and designed everything to bring Him glory because that’s what’s best for us. If our focus is anywhere else but on Him, then we aren’t going to be as healthy and happy as we could be. God is God. He created everything. He is the only One worthy of praise and glory and honor. Placing our trust and hope and love and devotion anywhere else would put us out of whack because anything other than God will always let us down.

 

God isn't selfish. He loves you enough to die for you.

 

 

 

 

Dead. Dead. Dead.

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’”

-- Ezekiel 37:1-3a

Do you know what happens next?

 

God brings life back to the dried out, old bones. While Ezekiel watches, the bones move and reconnect into whole skeletons, muscle, tissue, and skin covers them, and then God breathes the breath of life back into them. 

 

Those bones—and not just any bones, dry bones… Those bones that had been sitting there for who knows how long in order to reach the state that they were in… Bones that hadn’t seen life in decades, perhaps a decade of decades (if you follow me), or even more… Those dry bones, after one Word from the mouth of God, were restored to life.

 

The great thing about this passage is that God not only acts, He interprets it for us, Himself. He tells us what the meaning of it all is. He explains that this was a message for Israel, who was currently in exile in Babylon. Although Israel was dead in many respects—the city had been destroyed, their leaders had been killed, the people had been taken away—God intended to bring them back to life. And if He could do it with those old, dry bones, why wouldn’t He be able to do it with Israel?!

 

Have you ever felt beyond repair? Have you ever been so beaten down by life that you just felt like nothing could bring you back up out of that valley of despair? Can you relate to those dry bones?

 

Do you believe that God could ever abandon you? Because He won’t!

 

Do you believe that God can give you life again? Because He can!

 

Do you believe that God can redeem you from your past? Because He will!

 

Whatever it is that brought you to the dry-bones-state, God can help you. Israel’s own sins led to their own destruction. Have you been a victim of your own poor choices? Of course, there were many in Israel who were abused, neglected, cheated, and generally mistreated. Have you been a victim of the poor choices of others? Perhaps some combination of the two? The poor choices of yourself and of others. That’s the case, more often than not.

 

Either way, it doesn’t matter. God is stronger than your struggles. God is more loving and forgiving than your stubbornness. God redeemed Israel. He brought life back to those dry bones. And He can do the same for you.

 

Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light.”

-- Matthew 11:28-30

Turn to Jesus. He’ll give you life again.

 

 

 

Contradiction

Don’t ever say, “I’m sorry,” to someone and then immediately follow that with the word: “but.” Don’t do it. Just don’t. It’s wrong. If you say, “but,” after “I’m sorry,” it means that you’re taking back the “I’m sorry.” You cancel it out. Because the truth is that if you’re really sorry about something, then there is no “but.”

 

“But” is used to signal a departure, an opposite, a contradiction, an instead … it places two ideas in contradiction to each other. If you’re sorry, then there shouldn’t be any contradiction to that.  That doesn’t mean that there may not be an explanation (Notice that I didn’t say an excuse. Explanation and excuse are not the same thing. The first can often be very helpful. The second almost never is.). If you want to offer an explanation after your apology, just choose your words wisely.

 

Consider the following, and how you would feel if someone said this to you:

“I’m really sorry that I hurt your feelings, but I didn’t mean to.”
 

Translation:

“It stinks that my words/actions hurt your feelings but it was obviously your own fault because that wasn’t my intention.”
 

How about this instead, and notice that it’s only a tiny difference in wording, but makes a huge difference in meaning:

“I’m really  sorry that I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to.”
 

Did you see the difference? 

 

If you did something wrong—if you didn’t take someone’s feelings into consideration, if you were just flat out out of line about something, whatever the case may be—apologize. If they’re willing to listen, go ahead and offer an explanation. Just skip that one tiny word that would cancel it all out.

 

As far as I’m concerned, I (Aimee) think that we should all do a little more apologizing now and then. Take ownership of your words and actions. If you make a mistake, do right by those you’ve wronged. Admit your mistake and seek reconciliation. It’s what Jesus would do (except, of course, that He’s perfect and wouldn’t mess up in the first place, but you know what I mean). Reconciliation is very biblical.

 

“… if you are offering your gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother has something against you,

leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First go and be reconciled to your brother;

then come and offer your gift.”

Matthew 5:23-24

 

Time Flies

July came and went in the blink of an eye. Well, it did for me (Aimee) anyway. What about you? Is this summer flying by faster than you ever imagined time could fly?

What have you done with your time? Have you spent it with God?

Have you spent time in prayer?

Have you spent time in worship more than just on Sunday morning?

Have you spent time sharing God's love with others?

Have you spent time telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ?

Or have you just spent your summer playing and hanging out with friends?

Or so busy with summer school and/or with work that you haven't thought about anything except getting through one day at a time?

Or sitting around at home feeling bored?

How many times do you think that God has thought about you this summer?

When you think of that, how do you think you will move forward and spend your time now?

 

 

Worth

"But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves."

2 Kings 17:14-15a (NLT)

After the kingdom was split in 2 (Israel in the North, and Judah in the South), Israel really moved away from God. So God sent prophets to warn them that a great punishment was coming if they didn't change their ways. But unlike Ninevah who listened and repented when Jonah brought them God's Word to change their ways or else (much to Jonah's dismay). Israel seems incapable of learning from their past... Sometimes I wonder if we can.

But this line from chapter 17 really caught my (Aimee's) attention: "They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves." What you worship, what you put on a pedastal, what means the most to you, says a lot about who you are. I don't think that there is anyone who would really deny that. There are simply some out there who have really interesting interpretations of what different idols say about them. But, what really matters, is what GOD says those idols say about you!

Worshiping anyone or anything other than God is making that person or thing an idol. And worshiping any idol is pure foolishness. No idol can compare to God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Lord of Heaven's Armies. How can it?! Idols are worthless because they can do nothing for you. They can't provide for you like God can. They can't bless you like God can. They can't even punish you like God can. They may bring you joy, but it's fleeting. So, when you worship something that is worthless, you become worthless, because you are placing your trust in someone or something that will fail you.

Our worth lies in our Creator. He created each and every one of us. He created each of us to be unique and to serve a unique purpose (yes, we all are called to spread the Gospel and bring glory to God, but how we do that will be different from person to person). God loves you for who you are, whether you're good or bad. Of course, He prefers when you're good, but that isn't the only time He loves you. He loves you so much, in fact, that He sent His Son to die on a cross so that you can join Him in paradise someday!

What has your idol done for you?

What are you telling others that you're worth?

i remember

I (Sherann) have moments where I just have to write in my journal.  Do you have those moments? Or are you a journal-freak? (meaning you need to journal everyday)  I carry a journal with me at all times to write down something that was inspiring or something God pressed on my heart.  Anyway, I recently spent a week with 24 high school/college students up at Jenness Park (Christian Camp).  BTW... These students took a leap of faith and gave up their entire summer to serve in California!  Anyway, one of those days, I led a devotional on trust and I asked them to think about one moment where God came through or revealed something significant.  And as they pondered on this, I didn't realize how important it was to challenge not only these students, but also myself in regards to remembering His faithfulness.  I had to go back and look at my past journal entries and refresh myself with what God had done in my dark moments or times when I questioned my future.  I believe we are so engrained in the present and the hopes for our future, that we often move forward (at a turtles pace) with less confidence and with more caution.  If this is the case for you... may I encourage you today to look back at all the moments when you cried out to the Father and He quietly whispered "I'm here. I love you." Hebrews 13.8 states, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."  Do you know what this means?  It says that Christ who was with you in the past, will surely be with you in the present and in the future!  Now, that is good news!  When you and I look back to see how faithful He has been in the past, then we can definitely face today with the strength of Christ and press on to what lies ahead tomorrow.  

soli deo gloria

YOLO!!

I (Aimee) have to. I have to talk about it. Apparently it’s a BIG thing. I’ve seen very little of it, and what I’ve seen has been pretty tame. But I’ve been told by a friend that there are some really crazy photos floating around of people doing really stupid stuff and then claiming that their reasoning (why it’s all ok) is because you only live once.

Alright, if we’re going to be honest, then we must admit that it’s true. We do, in fact, only live once … here on this earth, in this way. Absolutely true. But that’s not an excuse to be stupid.

The fact that we only live once means that we should enjoy life and that we should live the best life that we can live. In Ecclesiastes 2, it says:

A man can do nothing better than to eat and

drink and find satisfaction in his work.

If you keep reading, though, you’ll see something that is very important in understanding what all of this means. It says:

This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for

without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

What an insane concept, right?! God wants me to enjoy life! He wants YOU to enjoy life! Wow! Did you know that?

The difference between this:

And this:

Should be obvious.

The first shows a person that is living for themselves. People who live for themselves do not find true joy in this life. They are the people who will leave this world feeling like they still missed out on stuff. And they'll be absolutely right. They keep running after happiness, but miss it with both hands because they don’t have God in their life. The second person is living for others. Maybe (hopefully) even living for God.

Go ahead, make YOLO a catch phrase with you. But do it the right way.

God gave you this one life. He gave it to you to live. But He gave it to you to live with a purpose. Experience life. And praise God for it. Pass on His Word. And praise God for it. Eat, drink, and be merry, and live like there's no tomorrow. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is coming back some day (can I get an "Amen"?!). We don't know when that day is going to be. You only live once. So live for God. Live to find His purpose for your life. Enjoy life by following Jesus’ example. Take pride in your work (yeah, that’s right, not all pride is bad). Share God’s love with others. Do all that good stuff that will make God smile down at you. That stuff that, at the end of this one life you have, God will look you in the face and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

You only live once. So what kind of life are you living?