Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Not for Self

I recently received my quarterly copy of PBU Today from Philadelphia Biblical University.  The focus of this current publication revolved around the graduating class of 2011 and the call for them to leave the University and make a difference in this world for God's Glory.

The president, Dr. Todd Williams, wrote an article entitled "Not for Self" as noted in my title above that tied so well into all that has been going through my head as of late.  Here are a few thoughts from the article that have struck a nerve and are worth chewing on I believe;

"A vision of the true God leads to a belief that His purposes and glory are the things for which we live and work." I would guess that most Christ followers would nod their heads in agreement with this statement, but what if the rubber were to hit the road and we all had to start evaluating our lives one piece at a time in light of that statement.  Do we live in the house we live in for the glory of God or would something smaller work just as well in order to give away more for His glory?  Do we work to build more into our retirement plans so we can someday cease to work and just enjoy life or do we work to build more into our retirement plans so I can spend the last 20 years of my life on the mission field for His glory?  To truly evaluate our lives based upon the above mentioned statement may have both our lives and our churches looking quite different if we truly believed it.

"The idols of self worship, self gratification and self service must be torn down and destroyed.  They have no place in the Christian life."  There is not much need to say anything here other than OUCH!  We may not set up wooden or golden idols in our backyards that look like a bull but we have bought hook, line and sinker into the worship of self above the one true and living God here in America and fail to acknowledge it is a form of idolatry. 

A few weeks ago in a previous blog post, I quoted the following Scriptures which speaks powerfully to the above statements; "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." (Romans 1:22-23).  The troubling part about this verse in light of today's blog post is that we don't even bother worshipping images of mortal man.  We have moved right to worship of mortal man, namely self.  Sobering and yet I have to believe God will honor those who seek to honor Him.  So let us live for His Glory and not for self.  Counter cultural... YES, but that's OK in light of eternity.

1 comment:

Dallas, Dad, Big D & I said...

That is a wonderful post. I have never heard of the publication quoted but find that I agree with the observations on living a Christian life. "Ouch" wan an appropriate term because it does make a difference our intentions with what we are doing. Do we work for God's glory and to do our part as a Christian to be of service to our fellow women and men or do we do everything for ourself. Do we take credit for all our successes or do we give credit to Him that gave us our talents and abilities? Thanks for the great reminder to recalibrate my reasons for what I do and to allow those more righteous reasons to show in my efforts.