REFLECTIONS
June 26, 2011 Refreshed from July 10, 2005
 
 
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another
Hebrews 10:24-25
 
 
It’s not about You
 
            “It’s not about you,” he told the young couple. How could they not think it was about them, after all, it was their wedding he was talking about! But the pastor explained patiently, it wasn’t about the bride as beautiful and loving as she was. It wasn’t about the groom as handsome as he may be. It wasn’t about the flowers or the wedding cake. It was about pledging before God to love and uphold one another. So, “It’s not about you.”
            Moses received the message when he encountered God in the burning bush. God called him for an important project that Moses resisted with a litany of excuses. But God redirected him, “Moses, it’s not about you.”
            King David set his sights on building a temple to the Lord. He drafted elaborate plans and he was committed to the project when God announced to him that the project would not be his to build. “David, it’s not about you.”
            Then there was Apostle Paul. He set about on a personal mission to destroy violators of God’s law only to be struck down by the message, “Paul, it’s not about you.”
            Jonah tried to run away instead of obeying God’s instructions to go to Nineveh. But Jonah didn’t get very far. A fish caught him and carried him to the place God had asked him to go. “Jonah, it’s not about you.”
Tomorrow we will likely try to run from things that are not to our liking. It will be nothing new. Ever since Adam and Eve, God’s people have ignored his direction in favor of their selfish desires. Like Moses we too may search for excuses; or like David, we may have already made plans. Like Paul, we may be chasing a personal mission; or maybe like Jonah, we would rather go somewhere else. But if we pause and listen quietly we will likely hear God’s reminder, “It’s not about you.”
He simply asks us to love and encourage others above our selfish desires. It’s not about you.
            It’s about him. 
 
You are the light of the world,
RichardÌ


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