Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
February 25, 2015.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
- Philippians 2:5-8
There is an idea that has slipped into Christianity that may have started with a kernel of truth but has been twisted into a tool to hinder our progress and thwart what we could be used to do by God. The idea behind this lie, this snare to keep us in bondage even as we attempt to walk with God, is that there is a type of selfishness that is both good and necessary in order for us to walk with God and serve Him.
We know that selfishness and living for ourselves is the opposite of denying self, taking up our cross and saying not my will but Yours be done as we follow Jesus, and yet, I have actually read devotions and heard sermons where the admitted conflict between ridding ourselves of selfishness and being selfish about our relationship with God is rationalized away.
Some seem to think that the selfishness needed to walk with God is different than the selfishness of self-indulgence that put us in bondage and is a necessary selfishness. I call nonsense. There is no selfishness that isn't self indulgence. The idea that I have to be selfish in order to make sure I have my relationship with God right before I can concern myself with others or be of service is a lie specifically designed to help me hold back a part of myself rather than completely and utterly surrender to God.
I will give one example of what I mean. I have been told that I have to be selfish with my prayer time and put it before service to others or I won't be able to minister well. Sounds good doesn't it? It sounds like the truth behind get the plank out of your eye before you go digging in your brother's. Except it isn't true or the same. People who make this claim have used the example of the prayer life of Jesus to try to prove their argument. So I will use Jesus to show how it is actually self-denial to pray like Jesus, not selfishness. Jesus got up early, while it was still dark, and went to be alone with the Father and pray. He didn't sleep in. He didn't put His physical need for rest above His spiritual need. He denied Himself. He also didn't tell the hungry crowd to go home and get something to eat because He was pretty wiped Himself and needed to spend some time in prayer before the evening service. He multiplied the fish and bread, fed the masses and continued to minister and serve.
In Mark 7 Jesus showed how the spirit of the law is twisted for selfish tradition. He tells the Pharisees who claimed that the service due their parents that was instead given to God was in fact breaking the commandment to honor parents and a sin, regardless of the idea that it was honoring God. That's because it didn't honor God to dishonor others.
Whenever we hold back the love that we should be giving to someone else for ourselves in order to stay spiritually fit and remain free from areas of bondage that we have been delivered from, we actually accomplish the opposite. When we deny self and love others even to the point of death, we're doing what Jesus did.
Now, please don't start beating yourself half to death with the truth stick. You're not going to be able to do the last sentence of the above paragraph. I can't even come close. There is a God and neither I nor you are Him. If we could live this selflessly we wouldn't have needed Jesus in the first place. The idea, the goal is to grow in this, to have progressively more of Jesus and selflessness and less of me and selfishness. There are going to be times when that person needs to talk and I'm going to say I can't and justify it with the truth that I simply am not up to dealing with it right now rather than stepping out to serve and trusting God for the grace and strength to walk on the water of my weariness. It's happened before, and it will happen again. But let me and you call it what it is. It isn't honoring God by taking care of me so that I can minister and serve better later. It's selfishness, and rather than calling it honor so that I can be comfortable with it, I need to remember that it is something that will keep me on parole rather than free. The bars of bondage may be gone, but the threat of reincarceration remains. The more self I hold onto the greater the threat of the enemy issuing a warrant to return my shackles.
Jesus said to die is to live, so we might want to get this idea that we need to preserve ours life out of our system. Besides, we're too late. Colossions 3, Galatians 2, Romans 6 and other scriptures tell us that if we are in Christ we are already dead to our self and to sin. Any life we have is now only found in the extent that we allow Jesus to live in and reign over us. So selfishness, even in "Service to God," is slow motion suicide and trying to breathe life into a corpse, not the freeing life we need and are called to.
Abba, I thank You that You will not withhold Your love from me when I fall short of the ideal of selflessness. I am grateful for the grace and mercy to still hear from You and be of service to You and have relationship with You even though I am still spiritually sick, selfish and far from perfect. Help me to remember that my selfishness and failures never surprise You or tempt You to give up on me, that what You have begun You will complete. But keep me broken and honest enough to see selfishness for what it is. Daddy, right now, I am willing to give You all of me, the good and the bad. I ask You to remove from me demand of selfishness and sin that stands in the way of my usefulness to You and to others this day. Give me Your strength and grace as I climb the hill to my daily cross and respond to Your call on my life today. May I do Your will over mine this day and always. Amen.
We know that selfishness and living for ourselves is the opposite of denying self, taking up our cross and saying not my will but Yours be done as we follow Jesus, and yet, I have actually read devotions and heard sermons where the admitted conflict between ridding ourselves of selfishness and being selfish about our relationship with God is rationalized away.
Some seem to think that the selfishness needed to walk with God is different than the selfishness of self-indulgence that put us in bondage and is a necessary selfishness. I call nonsense. There is no selfishness that isn't self indulgence. The idea that I have to be selfish in order to make sure I have my relationship with God right before I can concern myself with others or be of service is a lie specifically designed to help me hold back a part of myself rather than completely and utterly surrender to God.
I will give one example of what I mean. I have been told that I have to be selfish with my prayer time and put it before service to others or I won't be able to minister well. Sounds good doesn't it? It sounds like the truth behind get the plank out of your eye before you go digging in your brother's. Except it isn't true or the same. People who make this claim have used the example of the prayer life of Jesus to try to prove their argument. So I will use Jesus to show how it is actually self-denial to pray like Jesus, not selfishness. Jesus got up early, while it was still dark, and went to be alone with the Father and pray. He didn't sleep in. He didn't put His physical need for rest above His spiritual need. He denied Himself. He also didn't tell the hungry crowd to go home and get something to eat because He was pretty wiped Himself and needed to spend some time in prayer before the evening service. He multiplied the fish and bread, fed the masses and continued to minister and serve.
In Mark 7 Jesus showed how the spirit of the law is twisted for selfish tradition. He tells the Pharisees who claimed that the service due their parents that was instead given to God was in fact breaking the commandment to honor parents and a sin, regardless of the idea that it was honoring God. That's because it didn't honor God to dishonor others.
Whenever we hold back the love that we should be giving to someone else for ourselves in order to stay spiritually fit and remain free from areas of bondage that we have been delivered from, we actually accomplish the opposite. When we deny self and love others even to the point of death, we're doing what Jesus did.
Now, please don't start beating yourself half to death with the truth stick. You're not going to be able to do the last sentence of the above paragraph. I can't even come close. There is a God and neither I nor you are Him. If we could live this selflessly we wouldn't have needed Jesus in the first place. The idea, the goal is to grow in this, to have progressively more of Jesus and selflessness and less of me and selfishness. There are going to be times when that person needs to talk and I'm going to say I can't and justify it with the truth that I simply am not up to dealing with it right now rather than stepping out to serve and trusting God for the grace and strength to walk on the water of my weariness. It's happened before, and it will happen again. But let me and you call it what it is. It isn't honoring God by taking care of me so that I can minister and serve better later. It's selfishness, and rather than calling it honor so that I can be comfortable with it, I need to remember that it is something that will keep me on parole rather than free. The bars of bondage may be gone, but the threat of reincarceration remains. The more self I hold onto the greater the threat of the enemy issuing a warrant to return my shackles.
Jesus said to die is to live, so we might want to get this idea that we need to preserve ours life out of our system. Besides, we're too late. Colossions 3, Galatians 2, Romans 6 and other scriptures tell us that if we are in Christ we are already dead to our self and to sin. Any life we have is now only found in the extent that we allow Jesus to live in and reign over us. So selfishness, even in "Service to God," is slow motion suicide and trying to breathe life into a corpse, not the freeing life we need and are called to.
Abba, I thank You that You will not withhold Your love from me when I fall short of the ideal of selflessness. I am grateful for the grace and mercy to still hear from You and be of service to You and have relationship with You even though I am still spiritually sick, selfish and far from perfect. Help me to remember that my selfishness and failures never surprise You or tempt You to give up on me, that what You have begun You will complete. But keep me broken and honest enough to see selfishness for what it is. Daddy, right now, I am willing to give You all of me, the good and the bad. I ask You to remove from me demand of selfishness and sin that stands in the way of my usefulness to You and to others this day. Give me Your strength and grace as I climb the hill to my daily cross and respond to Your call on my life today. May I do Your will over mine this day and always. Amen.
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