I ran across another blog by a man named Bob Kauflin called WorshipMatters. He has a post called How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways where he discusses the pervasive attitude in our culture of self-love and sheds insight as to how the Gospel frees us from the lies associated with it.
In the post he states:
"self-love is rooted in at least two lies. The first is the lie that no one can love me better than me...A second falsehood is the belief that no one is more worthy of love than me."
He later concludes that:
"Every time we gather to worship God is one more opportunity to confront the idol of self-love. We should proclaim that we exist to love God as our duty and delight. "
Here are my thoughts on what he has written: I really like the idea that worship is more than a proclamation of God's glory...but a declaration of my complete dependence and utter "nothingness" in comparison. Worship is the place where I not only "confront", but deliberately tear down the alter to "self" in exchange for something of uncomparable delight and value: the worship of the one and only true God!
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Buddy, I was watching one of the NBA All-Star Specials today and they had an interview with Gilbert Arenas. He went on to say how he was homeless when he was little and went on to play high school and college basketball but no one ever thought that he would amount to anything. He decided to put the number 0 on his jersey because everybody thought he was nothing and he wanted to amount to something. He then went to be drafted into the NBA and it wasn't until he was on the Washington Wizards that he started to become a star NBA scorer. All the while, he continued to where the number 0. Now, I don't know if he is a Christian but this parallels to how we should be. If we would humble ourselves to be 0 or nothing in the eyes of man, then God would be glorified. We cannot accomplish anything as a Christian until we are humbled and selfless.
Hi Buddy -
Great thoughts~! You're exactly right (as is Kauflin) that we live in a time when man is much too important in his own estimation.
Beyond that, we're consumers. We go from the mall to the grocery store, to the car dealership, then the dry-cleaners, pizza place, and church. We pick our radio stations, our clothes, our version of the Bible, our theology even - because it's what suits us.
Self-image can be as misleading as a calico cat looking in the mirror and seeing the King of Beasts looking back at him! :-)
So far this first half-century of mine, I've found the best blend of confidence and humility comes when I think about Who I belong to,
Who bought me out of the marketplace of sin,
Who set my feet on a Rock, and
[gulp] Who reserves the right to call me out if I stray.
I sorta-kinda wrote along these lines on New Years Day. Hope you don't mind a link: http://vibrance.wordpress.com/2007/01/01/what-a-friend/
If you look for them, you'll see lots of parallels between this story and our relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Blessings~
Lots of 'em!
Phil—
Kenya...I really like this illustration and will be using it in a lesson or sermon in the future I'm sure. Great insight!
Phil...You are a welcomed guest and so is your link. Even knowing that God resists the proud, how easy it is to fall into that trap and to think that it is all about us, putting ourself in the role of the consumer instead of the consumed.
Buddy, your article reminded me of dog/cat theology.
A dog looks at his owner as one who feeds him, gives him shelter, attention, love, and every thing he needs....therefore the dog thinks, "My owner is God and I must be here to serve him."
The cat on the other hand sees his owner as one who feeds him, gives him shelter, attention, love, and everything he needs....and thinks, "I must be God and my owner is there to serve me."
How easy it is to slip into cat theology! Let's keep things in persective and remember who's God and who's the servant.
Mark...that is good!
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