Sometimes, when I take a step back from my life, I begin to think that maybe I’m getting sucked in…..sucked into this thing we call “education,” and sucked into the mentality of living for my own benefit. It’s the American way of life, and most certainly the Miami University way of life. I was in Spring Street Market today, picking up a few vittles for my tummy, and I realized how self-centered everyone is here. Everyone was in the store with a goal in mind: to get what they wanted as quickly as possible, interact as little as possible with anyone else, and leave. I have to admit, I was in the same frame of mind. As I was fulfilling my mission, I ended up dropping my CD player on the ground, spilling the batteries and my CD. Hardly anyone flinched. People were so into their own thing that the world simply continued on around me as if nothing had happened, as if I wasn’t even there. I felt like a burden, like I was an obstacle….I was in the way, and no one cared one smidgen about me on the floor gathering my things. The sad thing is, had this not been me, I probably would have reacted just like everyone else did….by simply ignoring anything that didn’t directly affect me or the goals I have for myself.
This is the world we live in. A self-centered, selfish race…everyone in it for their own personal profit. I went to the House of Prayer on Friday night, and something the speaker said was, “we are a performance-based society,” and it’s so true. We all feel like we have something to live up to, some way of feeling like we have to put on a show for other people, to look good and be esteemed by others. The thing is, this is almost opposite of how God sees things. We don’t earn our salvation….we don’t even have to do anything to “win” God’s love for us. He doesn’t expect a performance, and we certainly don’t have to prove anything to God. He already knows every cell that makes us who we are.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”- Psalm 139:13-16
We just simply have to “be” and accept the One Sacrifice God sent as a symbol of His love. Like any earthly father, God the Father simply desires our love. That’s all. This first commandment that Jesus said to do was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). And we show our love to God by obeying His commands (1 John 5:3) and following the second commandment Jesus made which was to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
So, I think what’s been hitting me hard lately is how I have allowed the world (specifically Miami University) to corrupt my mind into thinking that I should be living my life for myself, for my success, for my gain, to reach my goals. “Do not love the world or anything in the world” (1 John 2:15). Those are worldly things, and I’ve let myself become a part of this world. Instead, I should be living my life for God, for the sake of the gospel, and for others. God didn’t put us here for our own personal gain. “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8). Isn’t that exactly it? Anything we gain that is personal profit will only be rubbish in the end…..it will mean nothing to us, to others, or especially to God, and instead will be seen as loss, because where there is more of us, there is less of God, and we are drawn away from His will and His freedom for us.
I hope the next time I see someone drop their CD player, or even more so, see someone hurting or in need, I’m not so absorbed in my own life that I miss an opportunity to share God’s love with someone who really needs it.
“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” -1 John 2:6
This is the world we live in. A self-centered, selfish race…everyone in it for their own personal profit. I went to the House of Prayer on Friday night, and something the speaker said was, “we are a performance-based society,” and it’s so true. We all feel like we have something to live up to, some way of feeling like we have to put on a show for other people, to look good and be esteemed by others. The thing is, this is almost opposite of how God sees things. We don’t earn our salvation….we don’t even have to do anything to “win” God’s love for us. He doesn’t expect a performance, and we certainly don’t have to prove anything to God. He already knows every cell that makes us who we are.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”- Psalm 139:13-16
We just simply have to “be” and accept the One Sacrifice God sent as a symbol of His love. Like any earthly father, God the Father simply desires our love. That’s all. This first commandment that Jesus said to do was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). And we show our love to God by obeying His commands (1 John 5:3) and following the second commandment Jesus made which was to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
So, I think what’s been hitting me hard lately is how I have allowed the world (specifically Miami University) to corrupt my mind into thinking that I should be living my life for myself, for my success, for my gain, to reach my goals. “Do not love the world or anything in the world” (1 John 2:15). Those are worldly things, and I’ve let myself become a part of this world. Instead, I should be living my life for God, for the sake of the gospel, and for others. God didn’t put us here for our own personal gain. “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8). Isn’t that exactly it? Anything we gain that is personal profit will only be rubbish in the end…..it will mean nothing to us, to others, or especially to God, and instead will be seen as loss, because where there is more of us, there is less of God, and we are drawn away from His will and His freedom for us.
I hope the next time I see someone drop their CD player, or even more so, see someone hurting or in need, I’m not so absorbed in my own life that I miss an opportunity to share God’s love with someone who really needs it.
“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” -1 John 2:6
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