Less Me

 We were watching The Voice last weekend. We record it, so we're a bit behind, still on the Blind Auditions. One thing we kept noticing about a particular coach, was every time they were giving their pitch to get the contestant to choose them they always talked about their successes and experience as opposed to speaking more on the talents of the contestant. Once we picked this out we heard it every time and it became a bit annoying.


It makes me think how we as humans so easily focus on ourselves. We want the world to know what WE think, how WE feel, what WE'VE been through, as if our trials and triumphs are so incredibly unique. Don't get me wrong, each of us are unique and precious, created in God's image and no two people are exactly alike, but so often we get so caught up with our own stories that we don't even bother to learn about someone else's journey.

The great C.S. Lewis said, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less". I love this quote because it calls to attention that we should not think less of ourselves, because at times, even that can still be a big form of being self-absorbed. Woah is me, poor me, why me. When we are living in humility, we don't have to make everything about us. We don't have to be the hero or the victim. I don't know about you, but this is what I want to strive for in my own life. Look, we all have a unique story, and we all have valuable life lessons we can speak on, but personally, I believe that my story is really God's story. Everything I am and everything I have is because of God. If I am going to share my story, or parts of my story, may God get the Glory. May I share my trials and my triumps to bring Praise to the name of Jesus. Lord, please use my story to bring healing to the hurting, to encourage those in need of hope and to rejoice with those who are rising above! Please help me to hold my tongue when I am in a train of thought that is not from you. Make me less like me and more like you. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. May I be in the business of spirit-help over self-help. Lord, lead the way and help me to put you above myself. Amen!

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Romans 8:10‭-‬14 NIV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Judge Not?

 I was reading yesterday from the book Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People's Hearts the Way Jesus Did by Randy Newman. In the couple of pages I was reading he was talking about judging. Oftentimes people will quote Matthew 7:1 if they feel a Christian is trying to talk to them about a possible wrong-doing, or if they see someone headed down a bad path, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged." In Randy's book he spoke of the original wording used in this passage and that though it was translated to "judge" (and that is a close translation), it's really more of a "condemning judgment" that was being referred to. Jesus Himself has pointed out sin. It isn't that we shouldn't call out sin or try to help someone if we see them going in a wrong direction. We should however not judge others from a place of self-righteousness, but out of love and concern. In Luke 6:42 Jesus says, "How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take th...
Read more
Find Your Balance Lately I have felt some unbalance in my life. Can you relate? You have areas where you feel things are going pretty well, but something just seems a little off. Sometimes, we have no idea why we feel that way and other times we can pinpoint exactly what is missing. Recently for me the area of unbalance in my life is that of a physical nature. I have been seeing so many people around me doing so many amazing things to better their health and take care of their bodies. We only get one body in this life and so we should rightfully take care of it. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” This is an area that I have been falling short in for a long time. Sure, I pay attention to what I eat and have mostly always tried to incorporate healthy foods into my diet and have tried to moderate the foods that are not as good for me, but I am not the best at that. I have a weakness for sweets of all variety, but more than that...
Read more
Haters Gonna Hate There is so much noise on social media lately. I know the easy answer would be to stop going on social media and I have had to take breaks. I've had to unfollow some people for my own wellbeing and then I have gone back and re-followed them, thinking perhaps I was being close-minded. I recently read To Hell with the Hustle by Jefferson Bethke and he talked about how we don't really listen/care about what others are feeling or saying, what we're really looking for is for people to agree with our opinions. I see this playing out in so many posts on social media from various political points, ideas surrounding the pandemic and regarding the recent protests and social justice. Everyone has their own opinions and sometimes we continuously share the same opinion over and over and over in hopes of what? Do we think the 15th time we share a post about the importance of wearing a mask we will finally break through to all of our stubborn non-mask wearing friends a...
Read more