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"It's not about me and it's not about you."
I love this truth! Even when I forget and God has to gently -- and
sometimes not so gently -- remind me, I love reading His word where He
tells me over and over, it's not about me.
This hasn't been an easy truth for me to embrace. Over the past few
years of my life, I have come to realize that knowing this and
believing this are two very different things. For today, will you
imagine with me how much peace we could have in our lives if we really
live by this truth? But there is more to this truth than it not being
about you and me. "It's not about me and it's not about you; it is,
however, about God!"
I love that even more! It's about God. Every thought, every deed, every
action, every word, every blessing, every struggle, every praise, every
THING is about, for and because of God.
I'm not exactly sure when we started thinking and living in a way that
portrays that life is all about us. However, if we look around our
world, at what we do and watch and read, and the time we spend climbing
the ladder of success, undeniably, we live life believing it is all
about us. We could easily blame Adam and Eve for starting this theme of
self-absorbed living. God said, "Don't eat from that tree," and Eve
decided it wasn't really about God, it was about Eve, and ate it
anyway. Adam quickly followed, and I guess you could say the rest is
history.
What God laid on my heart this morning was this, "Are you also going to
continue to embrace the lie that it's all about you, Thomas? Or, are
you going to take my word as truth and live in obedience to me? Are you
going to serve me and love me as I love you? Or, are you going to be a
slave to your own selfishness and pride?"
I walked into my kitchen shortly after this "God-conversation." I
immediately saw the Scripture painted on the wall which says, "Blessed
be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and
praise. You alone are the Lord" (Nehemiah 9:5-6).
I know the Holy Spirit helped me choose that particular Scripture for
my kitchen wall because I need to be constantly reminded that all the
things in life that praise don't compare to the praise and blessing
that I am to give the Lord. Only our LORD God is worthy of my
exaltation. Every time I look at my kitchen wall, I hear my precious
Abba Father whispering to me, "Are you exalting me above all blessing
and praise -- are you living your life for me or are you living it for
yourself?"
Is the life we're living about God, or is it about us?
That passage in Nehemiah goes on to say that God created everything in
the world, that he gave life to everything, and that the multitudes of
heaven worship him. I wonder though, do the multitudes of earth worship
him? Are we so busy worshipping ourselves, our jobs, and other people,
that we have forgotten that it's not about us? Have we forgotten that
regardless of if we praise him or not, the mountains and the rocks will
because He will NOT go without praise -- He can't go without praise
because HE IS GOD (Luke 19:40).
Do we glorify Him in all that we do? Do we put him before everything
else in our lives? Do we think about him when we are blessed? Do we go
to him when we are hurting? Do we trust him in the deepest part of our
anxiety? Do we know that at the end of the day, that all that matters
is that we glorified him in everything we did and said? Do we know and
do we live in a manner that shows the world it's not about us, it is
about God? Is the life we're living about God, or is it about us?
The more we praise God in all that we do, the more we will understand
and live in His truth. It really is all about Him. It's all for Him.
It's all because of Him. He is the "I Am" while each of us must say,
that without Him, I am the "I am not."
The final exclamation mark of praise in our Old Testament song book
puts it this way:
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. (Psalm 150)
Why? Because we can ... because he asks us to ... because he is worthy
of all our praise and ... because it's not about me, and it's not about
you, it's about God. And because oft that we can say, "Praise God!"
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