It's All About Him!

I have a heart condition! Most of the time I live my life oblivious to it though. I go about my daily life engrossed in those things or people that mean something to me. To be sure, once in a while I might have a passing thought about my heart condition. But, unless I feel pain that grabs my attention, I pretty much live my life like everyone else.

Oh yeah...guess what? You have a heart condition too!

There are many symptoms of this heart condition that we share; such as, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-sufficiency, self-promotion, self-willed, self-focused and a whole bunch of other "self" adjectives to boot!

It started back in the Garden with Adam. Adam became focused on himself... How do I know? Because he chose to disobey the word of God. Now, this wasn't the written word that you and I today call the word of God. It was God's expressed will for Adam given directly to him by God himself. So, Adam was the first to choose himself over God.

The whole Bible, which we call the word of God, is full of people who placed a higher priority on themselves than they did on God - even the great heroes of faith such as David. How do I know? Because they disobeyed God's expressed will!

You see, we love to make this life all about us! Me, myself, and I - or the big "me" as I call it. Even our Christian walk is full of it... "I" accepted Christ... "I'm" doing this or that for the Lord... "I'm" fighting this battle... The list could go on and on.

There is a "cure" for this heart condition though ... it is Jesus! Our focus should be Jesus focused. According to Romans 5:19 which says "For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many will be made righteous."

Jesus is the one... He had the perfect heart condition! When tempted by Satan in the desert, he quoted from the written word of God - what we call the Old Testament. He did this to show Satan that it was God's expressed will that he was committed to. He put God in first place - not the big "me" as I called it earlier.

When Jesus was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane, three times He prayed the same thing. (See Matthew 26:36-43) He prayed for God's will to be done. Three times He had to purposefully put His focus on God's expressed will for His life. Obedience!!

We love to (and I include myself in this too) quote from Ephesians 6:14-17 as our rallying cry. We personalize it ... "I" put on the full armor of God. "I" am battling "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". Where is our focus when we read through the list of battle gear? On ourselves!

Have you ever looked at the first nine verses of that same chapter 6 in Ephesians? It's all about obedience. The transition in verses 10-11 says "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." It is through the obedience of Jesus that we have our protection from the enemy. Jesus trusted the promises of God and that is why He was able to obey. We stand our ground (see v. 13) in Jesus - the focus is on Jesus here.

I was reading Psalm 91 during my devotional time the other morning and verse 4 literally "lit" up for me. It says "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfullness will be your shield and rampart." I immediately thought of the shield of faith in Ephesians 6:16. I always thought the shield of faith was MY faith; but, now I think it is about His faithfullness. I started looking at the other "pieces" of armor mentioned and started seeing it was all about God's promises to us! His Truth (Jesus) given to us, His righteousness given to us, His peace (reconciliation to Him) given to us, His faithfulness to His promises and to us, His salvation given to us, and His Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus (the Word of God made flesh).

It is all about Him!!!

We have turned it all around and put the emphasis on us when we read Ephesians 6. I wonder how many other Scriptures we have done the same thing with? Maybe not purposefully and intentionally; but, have we?

When we "put on" the armor of God and stand firm, we are resting in and confident in the promises of God. That is how we battle! The focus is no longer on us but it is now on Him. Let's take the big "me" out of the picture and make EVERYTHING about Him.

Here's the bottom line... It is through the obedience of Jesus that we have the ability to stand firm in God's promises; which is our protection from the schemes of the devil!!

IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM!!!!