Who I Am

I am a saved sinner.

Because of the complexities of my gender, my race, my job, my position in society, my likes and dislikes, my natural gifts or talents, you may ask why I define myself this way.  These things and more usually define the person.

But, I tell you, I am a saved sinner.  Let me explain why.

I was born into this world with a inherited stain upon me that could not be removed in any normal way; a blemish that permeated every atom of my being.  Not a physical deformity or handicap.  No, this stain was unseen by my parent’s eyes as they gazed upon their newborn, seemingly perfect in every way, baby girl.  But it was there, none the less.

As I grew, the stain stayed with me.  In fact, it also grew.  And as the world introduced itself, I became like a dust mop gathering particles of sin and depravity among the threads and fibers of that stain.  At first, the cosmic compost of worldliness was subtle, yet the infection caused by it continued to spread.  When I left home and married, it gained speed until my wretchedness began to manifest itself not only inwardly, but outwardly, as well.

Adult responsibilities were often ignored.  I was drawn into the world’s underbelly of partying and revelry, alcohol and drugs, envy, lust, greed, lies, depression, and a threatened marriage.  For twelve years, the world’s appeal was a strong force, dragging me down in its murky, dark depths, and threatening to consume me forever in its blackness.  And I was unknowingly pulling my precious children, who were my most prized and beloved possession, along with me.

I can't tell you how or when I began to change.  But I can say that during the entire course of the years of not recognizing my sinfulness, I was pursued and wooed by the God I had heard of as a small child, but didn't know.  He kept me from completely destroying myself and my family.  He provided for me, even though I continued to offend Him.  He comforted me when I was in despair and desperation and pleading for help when I knew I had done wrong, but didn't know how or where to get the help.  All I know is that a strange and mysterious thing began to happen to me, and it came suddenly.

Shortly after my thirtieth birthday, He turned my face from the world and I began to search for His face.  The state with which I was in prevented me from immediately seeing Him, but the search for understanding had begun.  A weak but effective foundation of God’s law in a legalistic church had been established in my mind as a child.  Perhaps that’s why I always felt trapped and guilty over the wrong things I had done.  I just had no idea how to alleviate the guilt, because my childhood church didn't have the answer.  They were just as ensnared because they, too, were ignorant of grace and the One with all the answers.

I began to read the Bible, pouring through it again and again.  Yet, the answers still failed to come.  I consulted family members who adhered to their works and legalism, only receiving hard and impossible answers to the meaning of salvation and escape from the Hell preached to me as a child if I didn't embrace their legalistic doctrine.  My eyes feverishly looked everywhere.  My heart became frantic for answers and for redemption from my past that continued to haunt me.  But as each day passed, the crack that had been made in the cold, hard shell that encased my heart and kept me separated from seeing the God I wanted to know and understand began to grow larger and larger as chunks of it fell away.

The LORD began to pour out His Word in ways that defies my own reasoning.  What I was unable to understand before suddenly became clear to me.  He placed other Christians before me, including my precious sister, Dana, who had come out from her own struggle to understand.  We spent endless hours on the phone, the physical distance between us disappearing as we discussed what she was learning, studied, prayed, and exhorted one another.  God was not only opening my mind and heart to His Word, He was drenching me with the dew of understanding Him and introducing me to His Son Jesus Christ.  By His hand alone and using the faithfulness of others, He drew me from the darkness of the world and into His glorious Light.

For nearly ten years I battled the legalism of my former understanding, wanting desperately to retain some of it.  It wasn't sound reasoning that kept me bound to the false teaching of my youth.  It was fear.  Fear that if I failed to keep a portion of the misguided theology and doctrines forced upon me as a child, I would spend an eternity in Hell.  Yet, during the course of my conversion, my sister faithfully passed onto me what God was also pouring into her: the Truth of His Word, the miracle of the Cross, and the One Who was nailed to it.

For want of space and a willing ear, my story is abbreviated.  There is a vast distance between my physical birth and the day I was reborn; almost half a lifetime.  During my long struggle for understanding, God was also working in the hearts of other family members - my father, my mother, my husband, my children, as well as other members of my extended family.  Each one of us was drawn out of the world as we lived it, out from the false religion that had kept us bound, deaf, and blind, and were introduced to His Son Jesus Christ, and brought into His glorious light of salvation.  And for this, I will be eternally grateful.

I am a saved sinner.  The stain with which I was born is gone now, unseen by my Creator’s eyes.  It has been washed from me by the blood of my Savior’s sacrifice.

From time to time, I often remember how far the LORD has brought me.  I am reminded of the mistakes I made on my journey and sometimes grieve over them.  But they are merely passing remembrances because I know that Someone Else selflessly made restitution for them on my behalf.  In fact, He paid the penalty for them with His life.  I owe Him all of my devotion, praise, and worship for choosing me as His own child.

I can now look forward to the day when I will actually see the One Who faithfully walked beside me through it all, even in my most sinful state.  I owe all that I am to Him.

I am a saved sinner and a Christian who loves her LORD because He first loved me.

Like you may be as you read this, I was once a unsaved sinner  with no understanding, groping in darkness and lost in death.  But Grace reached out from eternity past and brought me into His glorious Light, saving me and giving me new and eternal life.

Who am I?  I am a child of God - and Jesus Christ is my SAVIOR my LORD, my KING, and my MASTER.

To Him be all the glory now and forevermore!

Feeding a Need

Have you ever wondered how a person becomes what they are today?  What is it that made them into what we perceive them to be through their efforts to be recognized?

This question is particularly troublesome over certain political figures, like Barrack Obama (because his past is full of shadows), and Hollywood celebrities whose indiscretions and lifestyle choices delight the media in a never-ending barrage of exposure.  As tiresome and redundant as it can be to those of us who would prefer not to hear or read about their flaws, failings, or political stance, it does bring to light a possible reason why they continue on a path to destruction.

They have a need.  And it must be fed.

Take, for instance, people like Bill Maher. He enjoys celebrity status because, at some point in his life, he told a joke and someone laughed.  Without being the proverbial fly on the wall, we can only guess at what his childhood had been like, how he had been raised, what he had been taught, if anything, and the kind of family he had come out of.  But let us take a quick glimpse into what information is available to us.

Maher’s bio on the web states that he was raised by his Irish-Catholic father, a network news editor, and Jewish mother who was a radio announcer.  What is interesting, however, is that his mother kept her ethnicity from him until his early teens.  It was then that he began to identify himself as "half-Jewish".  At the age of thirteen, his father had a falling out with the Catholic Church over birth control, and the family stopped attending.  Both his mother’s revelation and his father’s disagreement with Catholicism obviously occurred simultaneously and, more than likely, catapulted him into the person he describes himself as, today.

In abbreviated form, Maher has a degree in History and English from Cornell University, began his career in stand-up comedy and acting, eventually graduating to political commentator on various cable networks, and considers himself to be a Libertarian.  However, his political alignment speaks differently than of his associations and the liberal-minded groups he helps chair.  I guess all those things matter when one is defining a man.  But the most telling is his stand on “religion”.  He hates it.  And because he hates “religion”, he has become an out-spoken critic against Christianity.

Maher describes himself as an “apathiest” which, simply put, means he is a “pragmatic atheist” who has no interest in God, and acts with apathy and disregard to belief or unbelief in Him.  Although he will vehemently debate and denigrate anyone for their belief in Christ, his apathetic agnosticism drives him to insist that the thousands of years of theological debate have proven nothing.  Because his pragmatic philosophy compels him to only see the wrong things "religion" has wrought upon the world through the lens of hatred, Maher has erected a wall of defense for his position and, in effect, turned completely from belief in God.

In an interview when asked if he believed there was a God, Maher stated, “I think there is...I'm not an atheist. There's a really big difference between an atheist and someone who just doesn't believe in religion. Religion to me is a bureaucracy between man and God that I don't need. But I'm not an atheist, no."

I would have to disagree with Maher’s assertion that he is not an atheist.  His definition may be different than my own but, like all atheists, he is a God hater, one who refuses to acknowledge Him as Divine, Sovereign, and Holy.  Maher’s problem is that he is equating all the false religions and true Christianity, of which he has no understanding, into one category; thus the confusion in his answer.  To further support my assertion that he is an atheist, Maher simply has no time for God and, since he finds belief in all that God proclaims to be a false and foolish belief, and rejects the notion there is a Creator with these attributes, the title sticks quite well to him.  However, as the old saying goes, there are no atheists in a fox hole.

Maher views the various religions of the world as the primary problem with society.  We can sympathize to a degree with his assessment.  Indeed, "religion" has been a huge factor in the woes of the world, and some of those who wore the banner of “Christianity” certainly failed to represent it in its true form; the Catholicism of his father being the worst example of a "bureaucracy between man and God".  His argument is weak and ineffective to those who know that "religion" bears no significance to  the truest form of Christianity, and Christians will be the first to declare that.

Factor in the brutality and oppressiveness of Islam, of which he is an out-spoken critic, and Maher uses his pulpit to ignorantly define and categorize all "religions" into one distasteful and unpalatable pot of smelly stew.  If all Maher had to guide him were the poorest examples, it is no wonder he completely turned away from any form of religion and continues to disparage Christianity in the most vile way possible.

Maher is defined by the world as a celebrity, a playboy who has never been married, a board member of PETA, an environmentalist, and a voice worth listening to by those who are like-minded.  He seems to greatly enjoy his elevated status, as is evident if one foolishly chooses to watch his television programs or interviews.  However, all of this is only a façade.  Like all those who remain a slave to the world and its temptations, he wears his sins and ignorance on his sleeve.  So much so, that the longer his notoriety continues, the more obvious they become to a discerning Christian.  Quite possibly, they are even overt to an unbeliever - that is, if the unbeliever has a conscience, or is able to think with reason.

Maher’s pragmatic position on “religion” compels him to disprove not only the false religions of the world, but also Christianity.  He is driven to feed the need to disqualify and destroy it.  And because he has self-assumed a position as a mouthpiece for the unbelieving world and has been given a platform by his willing audience, he will do whatever he deems necessary, including the vilest of speech and behavior, to accomplish this goal and maintain his status of someone worthy of listening to - that is, until the next celebrity purveyor of godlessness, who requires his or her own need to be fed, knocks him from his pedestal.

Bill Maher has a need that is ravenous and wants to be fed.  Because someone once laughed at a homely, perhaps often ignored, little boy’s joke, or gave ear to his misguided and misinformed diatribes, he grabbed hold of the attention he received, and probably desperately desired.  His ego and pride reared up and assumed control over reason and sound-thinking, placing him squarely in front of those whose recognition he wanted the most.

As he carried this new-found prize of ego and pride forward into his life, arrogance was added in an attempt to sweeten the viscous pot and the unpleasant aroma he emits.  The result is a puffed-up, sin-filled, sad and confused little man who has chosen to hate God.  And as long as he surrounds himself with those who feed his need, the life Maher has created for himself will continue to be empty, meaningless, and void of any hope.

Although Maher inserts himself in ways that are often hard to ignore or avoid, he is no different than any unsaved, unbelieving man.  He is just more offensive because of his status and his ability to denigrate Jesus Christ and His children through the use of the multimedia that consumes our world.  We are all affected by our own unhealthy needs that ignore or usurp the LORD and His position in our lives.  And if we are feeding that hungry beast, then we are no different than men like Bill Maher.

Maybe it is time to take stock of our own appetites.


(If you're wondering why I'm writing about Bill Maher, I woke this morning with his name rolling around in my head like a pea, and this is the result.  Short of saying it was Divinely inspired, I have no plausible reason or explanation why I would give him space here on the blog.  Maybe the LORD is asking us to pray for him.  Anything is possible...Karen) 

Is It Truly Your Decision?

Although there will be those who disagree with me, it is my opinion that no one can "make a decision for Christ". If it had been left up to me, regardless of knowing right from wrong and my conscience being affected by that knowledge, I would never have made a decision to embrace and follow Him.   I loved my sin too much, as does all mankind.

It was only by the drawing of the Holy Spirit and my heart being opened by Him to receive Jesus Christ that I was able to see my complete wretchedness and depravity before a Holy God and my need for salvation and forgiveness for those vile sins.  And upon full recognition of my depravity, it was then that I repented for those great offenses - and continue to do so.  If God had left it up to me, I would always have found an excuse or defense for them, and I would have continued to run from Him.

Salvation cannot be attained, or preached, for that matter, without grief over and repentance for our sinfulness.  Nor can salvation be "gained" through our own efforts without the intervention of the Holy Spirit.  He opened Lydia's heart to receive the message of salvation (Acts 16:13-15) - a perfect example of His intervention and Divine work.  The only way to know our complete depravity is for the LORD to first break through the barrier we have erected against Him, then take our hearts of stone and make them into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

Are we able to do this great work?  The answer is an emphatic "no". The work is accomplished by God, through His Holy Spirit.  It is not our own doing.  We,  because of our inherent sinfulness, evil, and wickedness, are incapable of "deciding for Christ".  For those of you who think you can because you responded to an "altar call", recited a "prayer" as a child, or allowed your emotions to move your feet for a brief moment, your own attempts at "receiving Him" were in vain.  It became your "work", your "decision", and it is all meaningless.

If you feel as though you are being drawn by the Holy Spirit, the first thing He will do is convict you of your total depravity.  He will enable you to see how greatly you have offended God and it will affect you mightily.

If indeed He is calling you out of the world, your first response should be utter remorse for the great offenses you have committed before a Holy God.   It should rend your heart so violently that you are unable to continue to stand as your eyes pour out a river of tears as you are enabled to see your wretchedness.

Your second and immediate reaction should be to fall on your knees before God with tremendous grief, confess your unworthiness, and repent and ask Him to forgive you for your sins.   The heart of stone that was once in you is in His hands from that point forward.  Your heart will become pliable as He molds it into perfection for His glory.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Not your own work.  Not your own "decision" to allow Him Who is Sovereign entry into your heart, your mind, your soul, your life for your own glory and to elevate your status by labeling yourself a "Christian". 

What profound arrogance that overcomes us when we think we can make that choice for Him!

What pride we harbor when we say that our "free will" overrides the Sovereignty of God Almighty and His will!

How we minimize God and His majesty, His righteousness and holiness, His wisdom, and most importantly, His perfect form of justice when we subject to ourselves, rather than to Him, and give ourselves the credit for a worthless and noneffective "decision"!

I truly pray that you will consider what I have written here.  As I mentioned at the beginning, there will be some of you who disagree with me.  But I believe you do so at your own peril, for Scripture is clear that GOD will have the glory for His Name's sake and for His ultimate decisions - not your own.

Please take a moment and examine your heart.  Has it changed following "your decision"?  Or is it the same as it was before you chose Him?  (2Cor. 13:5-6; 1Peter 1:10-11)

(For a wonderful example of the danger of making "decisions for Christ", read the following blog post from On The Box and watch the 3 short videos that demonstrate a professing Christian's lack of understanding of the Gospel.  It's well worth your time and may help you examine your own confession of faith in Jesus Christ.)
http://livingwatersonthebox.blogspot.com/2011/03/three-minutes-to-live-in-three-steps.html

An Indepth Answer To an Age-Old Question: Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering?

A Review of Randy Alcorn's Book,

 If God Is Good:  Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil

At first glance, a Christian might wonder why it was necessary for Randy Alcorn to write almost 500 pages to address the question “why” for God’s purpose in allowing evil and suffering.  After all, if the Christian is grounded in Biblical truth, the answer should be obvious.  Right?

But as I quickly discovered, even the most seasoned and mature Christian will most likely face a trial, a death, a disease, or a tragedy in his life that will bring the question to the forefront and cause him to question his faith.  It will also compel him to question God’s true nature, to falter in his belief that God is sovereign over all creation, and that God has a purpose for allowing evil and suffering to come upon him.

Randy Alcorn effectively builds and supports the foundation of history’s generational struggle with this question and the depth to which it affects the entire world.  Drawing on his and others’ personal experiences, he pulls his readers deeply into the book.  Sparing no words, Alcorn transitions his argument into the basis of understanding the nature of God and the faith that is necessary to withstand the reality of what the world may bring.

By comparing the different worldviews with what Holy Scripture reveals, Alcorn is successful in tearing down those naïve or heretical viewpoints and doctrines that minimize God’s wisdom, holiness, and perfect form of justice, thus encouraging us to understand Who God is in order to fully understand why He permits evil and suffering.  Taking us into the very core of the question, Alcorn defines the differing moral standards in regard to the question of evil and God’s goodness and the resulting consequences one brings upon the other through a fallen world’s sinfulness and disobedience.

As one reads through the book, Alcorn continually poses thought-provoking and soul-searching questions that drives his reader to become interactive and honestly answer them.  To those with a sincere desire to fully understand why God has permitted such horrors and so many atrocities to continue throughout history without stopping them, he will find the answer within these pages.  The reader, through the tireless efforts of Randy Alcorn, will arrive at the realization that God, through His sovereign, holy, and just nature, uses suffering and evil to refine His children, to humble them and break them of self-dependence, to deepen their faith and trust in Him, and to bring them into a deeper intimacy and understanding of His mercy, His grace, and why He allows evil and suffering to bring about His greater good..

“Death is life’s greatest certainty.”  As Randy Alcorn demonstrates through 500 captivating pages of exhortation and encouragement, it is what we do with our short life here and Who we believe God to be between our first breath and our last that will determine whether or not we understand the answer to the question he poses and what our final and eternal destination  will be.

I recently watched a short video produced by a young man named Zach Smith just prior to his death.  As he described his fight with cancer and the heartbreaking inevitability of leaving his wife and three young children behind, he knew his suffering was limited in the here and now, that it was only temporary, and that his eternal reward for the suffering he had briefly endured here awaited him in his eternal home.  His voice echoed Randy Alcorn’s conclusion in this book:  “In the end, Jesus Christ is the only satisfying answer to the problem of evil and suffering.”

As Zack looks into the camera, we are able to see resolve with the reality of his disease, hope, and peace in his face because of his strong faith and understanding in a sovereign God.  If he had been given the time to read “If God Is Good” and write this review, Zach would have done a much better job than I with his final penetrating words:

“This I do know.  If God chooses to heal me, then God is God and God is good.  If God chooses not to heal me and allows me to die, God is still God and God is still good.  To God be the glory.”

I highly recommend this book to anyone, believer or unbeliever, who is seeking answers and struggling to understand their own trial, pain, tragedy, or heartbreak, or those who just want a better understanding of the goodness of a merciful and just God Who permits the worst in us to ultimately bring about His greater good.  As Randy Alcorn so eloquently points out throughout this book, He will have the glory, in spite of  the way we perceive Him.

(Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. Please visit their website and rank my review. Thank you!)  http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/view/4939

Did I Do That?

Have you ever noticed the tendency we have to make our witness for Jesus Christ more about ourselves and less of Him?

I am sure this is a question most would deny about themselves, especially those who feel they are in lockstep with the Lord in their devotion and service to Him.  But let us consider, for a moment, how deeply penetrating this question can be in light of our current condition and the effect it has on us.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Eph. 2:8-9

Amazing grace.  What a concept of reality and truth!  But it is clearly one we tend to forget in our zeal to save others.  When we approach those who do not know their sinfulness, we forget that we were once like them.  The degree of their sins may seem more offensive to us, but ours were no less-offensive to God before He drew us out of the world and poured out faith into our hearts.

The false teaching that salvation is not given without faith and works, one the Catholic church and others strictly preach, can often be unknowingly embraced by evangelical minds, too.  We may wrongly see the necessity for works, making them our own, rather than a divine appointment made by God in order for His work to be completed.  We then ceremoniously add a feather to our cap and boast to others of our success.  And the Lord is relegated to second place.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”  Prov. 16:18

Lately, I have noticed a disturbing trend on the internet, especially in social networking sites.  Small communities of professing Christians have created relatively tight-knit groups of like-minded people.  But every once in a while, someone is added to their clique that may differ with them on a particular doctrinal issue.  Although it is recognized by most that hungry wolves are preying about the Ethernet looking to disrupt, deceive, and destroy - and we should use every opportunity to warn others away from them -  there are also those who may have been poorly taught, or are struggling to understand a specific truth of Scripture, and God just may have put them in that little group to teach them a vital truth. 

Nine times out of ten, my experience during these discourses has been to witness a “haughty spirit” by some who are perhaps better taught - or at least think they are.  The dissenter becomes the recipient of vitriolic condemnation instead of gentle reproof or rebuke (1Tim. 5:1-2), and a victim of rejection and expulsion from the group.  It is true we are to stand firmly grounded in the Word of God and never waver, but not on a foundation of pride which we, ourselves, have erected.  To “shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces” (Matt. 23:13) in this manner demonstrates an attitude of arrogance and an elevated view of ourselves and the little knowledge we do have.

“You are preaching to the choir!”

We all want to share with others the joys and benefits of our salvation.  But the question remains, “To whom are you telling this good news?”  If we are exclusive, only interacting with fellow believers, are we truly fulfilling the Lord’s commission to make disciples of men, regardless of our location?

A case in point could be applied again to the internet and what is shared there.   It is right and good to exhort our brothers and sisters with encouragement and prayer, and more importantly, caution them about a liar and deceiver that's being touted as a man of God.  However, all too often, there are found within certain groups those who find it necessary to continually hammer away on a specific fault within the church.  The problem is that their readers are usually aware of these things and are mostly, if not completely, in agreement.

In light of this, how often must the “choir” be subjected to videos of charismatics writhing on the floor or leaping about in pagan ecstasy and babbling like a moron, or an endless onslaught of examples of false shepherds misleading the church?  One can only hear so many times the errors of men like Osteen, Hinn, Driscol, and Bell by those who spend hours searching for videos and articles to point out these false teachers’ blatant faults and heresies.  Other than the well-intentioned warning to avoid them, they benefit none of us and could possibly reveal an arrogance seeping from the one who is posting them, and a failure to acknowledge their own faults.  Would it not better serve our Christian brothers and sisters to exhort them with sound teaching and stories and images of faithful service to Jesus Christ that lift them above the world and its depravity?

It is premature for anyone to condemn others for the errors we see in them.  God, the ultimate Judge, may not be done with them yet, and to elevate ourselves above them by continuing to show their failures ad finitum makes us look like a self-righteous finger pointer.

“Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!”  1Cor. 9:16b

However, that does not dispute the fact that a new breed of church leaders has risen from the muck and mire.  The grime is still clinging to them and they are smearing its filth on multitudes sitting in pews every Sunday.  I am able to say with complete confidence that today’s church is greatly lacking Bible-grounded pastors and teachers who preach repentance and true salvation. 

The “blab it and grab it”, or health, wealth and prosperity preachers, have positioned themselves behind the pulpit, or the internet altar, and are methodically whittling and carving away at Holy Scripture like a butcher carves a carcass.  Among many other glaring heresies, “Self” is predominate in their preaching.  “God loves you and wants you to have your best life now” has become their mantra.  And, sadly, far too many have fallen into this snare. 

Rather than faithful ministers of God preaching the redemptive properties of Christ’s atonement, repentance, justification, faith, and sanctification, along with the perfectly just and wrathful nature of God, these purveyors of lies have convinced the world that you can have your cake and eat it, too.  In other words, create your own god that fits your own sensibility, fits your own interpretation of Scripture, or say a prayer and continue to expect blessing after blessing, regardless of how you live your life.  And after you have "secured" your salvation, make sure your friends and family follow your lead by giving them the same false gospel so that they can also have their cake and eat it, too.  (Oh, and remember to pile your cash on the offering plate so they can stay in business, because they are watching to make sure you do.)

Knowing the brand of sermons that are being preached by these wolves demonstrates a lack of conviction and commitment that Paul experienced in his lament to the Corinthians.  Unlike Paul who was unable to NOT preach the true Gospel of Christ, their sermons are self-serving and self-gratifying and fueled by the accolades they receive from the unlearned, nominal Christians, or false professors who only desire the benefits of claiming Jesus Christ for themselves in order to reap the harvest in this life.

“Well done, good and faithful servant!”  Matt. 25:23a

Thankfully, there are still men who are faithful to God in their deliverance of His Word.  One such example among many is John MacArthur, Pastor of Grace Community Church, who once said that when he started to preach, he determined to preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1Cor 1:23).  He, and Pastors like my own, are dedicated to verse by verse expository preaching and word by word hermeneutics and eschatology that continues to feed the souls of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

These men never make their message about themselves, nor is their preaching about our self-perceived “worth.”  Rather, like Christ Who always exalted the Father, their sermons are focused on the Lord, His atonement, the Gospel’s complete message, and what Jesus expects from His children and what they can expect from Him.  So that we are equipped to handle the truth of God rightly, nothing is left out when they stand and deliver the Word of God. 

The gospel of “Self” that is preached by so many others is dangerous and will not gain an inch toward heaven for those who believe it.  It just drives them closer to an eternity in hell.  These men and women are merely stumbling fools (1Cor. 1:23) who will eventually fall into the same trap they have set for others.  But, we should use caution not to imitate them, even when we think we are guarding ourselves.  The sin of “Self” that is infecting others may go unnoticed in us if we fail to examine ourselves from time to time.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  (Prov. 3:34; James 4:6)

Humility is a virtue not common to men of today.  It is rare to find a man or woman, let alone a servant of God, who is truly humble, who forsakes himself for the benefit of others and honors God by giving Him His due glory.  Our fallen human nature will always drag up a perceived need, want, or excuse, despite our relationship with God, and our pride and arrogance throws humility out the window.

There was only One with that divine attribute: Jesus Christ.  He willingly obeyed the Father in order that He could impute our vile sins upon His sinless Son so that His Son’s righteousness could be imputed to us.  If “self” had been a factor in the Holy decision making, no mere man would have agreed to endure it.  But Jesus Christ was not a mere man.  He was the Lord God Almighty, full of Truth and Grace, and He humbled Himself on a cross in order that we, His children, could be saved from eternal death and be imparted eternal life.

My conclusion?

It should never be about me.  Nor should it be about you.  Our walk and our talk, even our posts and dialogue on the internet, should always reflect the Lord Jesus Christ.  Pride, arrogance, and selfish ambition is of Satan.  These should never drive us, and disorder should never divide us.  

We should mourn our own sinfulness before a Holy God, and then turn to Him with profound thankfulness that it was, is, and always will be about Him.