Articles
It's About Me!
It's About Me!
By Steve Patton
Our world constantly emphasizes that life is “all about me.” We have it hammered into our brains daily with ad slogans like: “You are special. You deserve a break today. Have it your way. Because you’re worth it. We do it all for you. It’s everywhere you want to be.” So life is all about me and my wants and desires. Happiness means getting everything I want.
I believe such an idea can be attributed to two things. One is the battle with our own lusts - lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eye, and the pride of life (1John 2:15-16). Flesh versus spirit is a battle we fight our whole life. God’s Word teaches us that self-denial and sacrifice are fundamental to a meaningful existence (Luke 9:27; Rom. 12:1, etc.).
But secondly, we are told that life can be meaningful without a belief in a Creator God who is the source of all existence and to whom we will ultimately answer. Radical evolutionists have been at the heart of this idea, telling us that this world is here without the hand of God, and that its continued successful existence is up to man. In the evolutionist’s mind we are but one species in a long continuum of beings evolving into higher forms over billions of years. Our responsibility is to do our part to see that this evolutionary march continues throughout the millenniums ahead. I’m not sure why they think we should do this since we each live only one lifetime. Shouldn’t that one brief lifetime be filled with doing whatever I want, not with fulfilling any responsibility to future higher evolved beings? After all they will not care one bit about me and how I lived.
The evolutionist says that to find meaning to life, do not look up. Rather look around you and find something more important than yourself and work for it. Sounds good but I think someone long ago tried that. King Solomon recounted his quest for meaning in "something more." With great success he completed grand projects, amassed fortunes, and enjoyed mountaintop experiences, each failing to quell his heart’s deepest pangs. His life lesson: Lasting significance is not found in something, but in Someone (Ecc. 12:14).
Do not let this world fool you. Life is not just about “me.” It is about both God and others. When your life needs meaning, learn to look up. Have the heart of the Psalmist when he wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1). There you will find life’s meaning.
Understanding What God Says
A man from Switzerland, looking for directions, pulled up at a bus stop where two
Americans were waiting.
“Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?” he asked in perfect German. The two Americans just stared at him.
“Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?” he inquired in clear French. The two continued to stare.
“Parlare Italiano?” He queried in flawless Italian. Again, no response.
“Hablan ustedes Espanol?” he questioned in textbook Spanish. Still nothing but dull stares from the Americans.
The Swiss guy drove off, quite upset. The first American turned to the second and said, “Y'know, mebbe we should learn us a foreign language.”
“Why?” asked the other. “That feller knew four languages, and it didn't do him a bit of good.”
It's true. Knowing a lot of languages is no guarantee that you can communicate with someone. Even Jesus, the great communicator, found that there were people who couldn't (or wouldn’t) understand what he was saying. “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand…” (Matt. 13:13).
Why? It wasn't a problem of languages; it was a problem of the heart. “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them” (Matt. 13:15).
Five Factors of Church Growth
1. Fidelity in Teaching (1Tim. 1:3-4, 4:6, 6:3-5; 2Tim. 1:13, 4:7-8; Titus 1:9)
2. Vitality in Praying (Eph. 6:18; 1Thes. 5:17)
3. Tenacity in Suffering (Heb. 10:34-39; 1Peter 1:7, 3:13-17, 4:12-19; Rev. 2:10)
4. Liberality in Giving (Rom. 12:8; 2Cor. 9:6-11)
5. Purity in Living (Rom. 13:11-14; Titus 2:11-12; 1Peter 1:13-16, 3:8-12) (Craig Meyer)
A Moments Wisdom
--“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.” (A. W. Tozer)
--“I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon.” (The last words of John Newton, author of the hymn “Amazing Grace”)
--“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies, and itchings that Hell contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good.” (C. S. Lewis)
--“If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world.” (Vance Havner)
--We may speak about a place where there are no tears, no death, no fear, no night; but those are just the benefits of heaven. The beauty of heaven is seeing God.
Test Your Bible Knowledge
1. How had Adonijah dishonored his father David? __________
2. How did David respond? __________
3. What was Solomon’s request when God asked what he wanted as king? __________
4. Who built the Temple of God? __________
5. How widely known was Solomon’s glory? __________
Upcoming Sermons
5/16/21 AM - Scott Black; PM - “Solomon” - Doug Sanders
5/23/21 AM - “Come Let Us Reason Together”: The Logic of Scripture; PM - Mary: “Blessed Among Women”
5/30/21 AM - “Aaron Shall be Gathered to His People”; PM - Andy Brenton
