Who is number one?
Ok, this may sound harsh, but hopefully you can see the larger point of my thought. What does an atheist, a disgruntled "Christian", and an involved "Christian" have in common. Well, first thing, is that I have recently had to opportunity to talk to all these "self labeled" people about problems in society and situations that we were in. You might even say that these people received cruel and unusually punishment by speaking to me on these manners. LOL
The larger point of this blog is the interesting take aways that I got from all three types of people. These people had one focus on the discussions that we had. That focus was themselves! The atheist mentioned that she did not need other people telling her things that she should not do, etc. She said that as long as she is not hurting other people, that it is ok. One disgruntled "Christian" shared that he was trying to change the youth ministry for years and could not get them to do what He wanted for his family. Another disgruntled "Christian" just took personal attacks on a pastor that was not present and the attacks focused on the fact that that pastor did not support their desires and that he did not do what they wanted/needed. Finally, the involved "Christian" that comes to mind, continued to complain about the department of service and the people that were in the church serving in this department. She complained that it is not fair that she has to serve these kids by staying at the church to make sure they were safe. Now before you go all off on me, I do not believe these people are "bad" people. I think our society teaches all of us to focus on ourselves and to expect others to serve us. Our society teaches us that we should put ourselves number one. This brings me to my point. I feel that the bible teaches us that the only way that we can be fulfilled is by serving and loving others. It teaches us that it is important to focus on others rather than ourselves. This is a huge contrast to our society and the people that I talked to about society and situations. Is it any wonder that our society is continuously in fights and struggles with the mentality of putting yourself first? In addition, what can we do if this same mentality has penetrated our churches and people outside are now seeing this same focus in churches? I would love to get others people feedback on this thought.
The larger point of this blog is the interesting take aways that I got from all three types of people. These people had one focus on the discussions that we had. That focus was themselves! The atheist mentioned that she did not need other people telling her things that she should not do, etc. She said that as long as she is not hurting other people, that it is ok. One disgruntled "Christian" shared that he was trying to change the youth ministry for years and could not get them to do what He wanted for his family. Another disgruntled "Christian" just took personal attacks on a pastor that was not present and the attacks focused on the fact that that pastor did not support their desires and that he did not do what they wanted/needed. Finally, the involved "Christian" that comes to mind, continued to complain about the department of service and the people that were in the church serving in this department. She complained that it is not fair that she has to serve these kids by staying at the church to make sure they were safe. Now before you go all off on me, I do not believe these people are "bad" people. I think our society teaches all of us to focus on ourselves and to expect others to serve us. Our society teaches us that we should put ourselves number one. This brings me to my point. I feel that the bible teaches us that the only way that we can be fulfilled is by serving and loving others. It teaches us that it is important to focus on others rather than ourselves. This is a huge contrast to our society and the people that I talked to about society and situations. Is it any wonder that our society is continuously in fights and struggles with the mentality of putting yourself first? In addition, what can we do if this same mentality has penetrated our churches and people outside are now seeing this same focus in churches? I would love to get others people feedback on this thought.
posted by Heath Hudspeth at 9:50 PM
2 Comments:
right on. everything thing these days seem to be about one person. self. The study that i am doing right now talks about having a sevant heart and attitude to our fellow man, but more importantly to love them. Many times in the bible we are commanded to love others and if we don't...
then we don't truely love God!
The first couple of times that i read this it really made me think about what these words meant. I couldn't see how just because i didn't love others that meant that i didn't love God. But its true. What got me hung up was my viewpoint and definition of love. God is love. If we truely love Him then He will penetrate every aspect of our lives which means as a result, we will have a loving heart towards others (this wasn't only talking about Christians, but the lost too).
I had to start looking at the origin: if i loved God first then i would love others. if anything got in the way of God then my love for Him wasn't pure and my love for others dissipated.
Romans 13:8 goes as far as to say that we owe our fellow believers love.
Some more verses on the matter:
John 13:34, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:11,1 John 4:21, Ephesians 5:2, 1 John 4:19
Love God and we'll love others.
A sign of selfishness could be pointing to a more dangerous symptom of a lack of love for our Heavenly Father.
i think all three are dorks
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