"but i am afraid that just as eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your mind may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ."
2 corinthians 11:3
are there parts of the bible that seem repetitive? does it ever seem like the apostle paul writes similar letters over and over again to even the same people? even Jesus told parables and presented teachings that said the same thing over again, sometimes just in different words. just like the disciples whom jesus taught, the people whom paul wrote letters to, we need to be reminded over and over again. we don't get it the first time. we forget or get distracted and end up exactly where we started.
this chapter, "God-and" seems to reiterate what david nasser mentioned in previous chapters. good thing, cause i don't always get it the first time. i forget and/or old habits creep up.
i am an incredibly self-centered person. i focus on my wants and my needs and my goals and my dreams and my time and my everything else. if i want to follow Jesus, this must die and it must die very hard. unfortunately our culture and even some Christian churches and and speakers teach a selfish gospel (not gospel with a capital g, because it is not the gospel if it is about self). if you trust God, if you walk with Jesus, if you believe, if you have faith, if you do this and that, you will experience success, peace, wealth, rest, etc. the problem with that gospel is that when we don't get what we expect - when we don't feel as "blessed" - we question God and His promises.
i am incredibly blessed. the blessings themselves are not bad. "the problem is when those blessings climb up to the center of our hearts and compete with Jesus for our affections." is Jesus my goal, or is it the blessings? do i use these blessings to draw closer to Jesus or do i allow selfishness to grow? it is kind of like opening a bag of chips - you can't eat just one. i receive all sorts of physical and spiritual gifts, yet i want more. if i have this, then i could serve better.
nasser offers four ways to tell if we are selfish and want things too much. first, what do we pray about? i tend to use God to get what i want, more of God's blessings. i should be praying like paul, who "asks for insight into the depths of God's love, for wisdom to know his will, and the strength to carry it out." secondly, how do we respond when someone has more than we do? i know that on more than one occasion i have looked at others and thought to myself, they don't deserve that. oddly, i seem to think that i do deserve it. lust, envy, and jealousy are rooted in selfishness. why can't i be happy for that person? third, do we get angry when God doesn't give us what we want? when i don't get what i want and ask God for, or when something i have and value is taken away, i get angry and frustrated. fourth and last, do we feel sorry for ourselves when God's doesn't come through the way we wanted? i convince myself that God doesn't care about me, disappointed that He allowed it. i should be asking God what he wants to teach me.
Lord, forgive me for being so self-centered and for using you for blessings. help me to kill selfish thinking and selfish desires so that i may serve you by putting others first. this life is not mine, but yours. use it to glorify you.
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