Self-expression and the self made man is the great idolatry that has our nation captivated.  We glorify our own glorification and we praise those who through their sweat and tears, overcoming every obstacle, have achieved great things in our own name for our own glory.  We would do anything to get on TV and everyone is doing something to get famous, whether to show up on Youtube, myspace or even xanga.  We praise the unknown underdog because he achieved greatness with no help from others but pulled himself up with his own bootstraps.  Where then is the glory of God?

Did God just give me the slight ego boost in order to help me become the athlete of the year or the next American Idol singer.  Or did He give us the very breath of life that we might accomplish anything at all in this life and even do the greatest miracle, to live!  I need Thee every hour? No!  I need Thee every millisecond!   Every moment, God holds our molecules together and yet we claim to have achieved something by pulling up on our own bootstraps.  This then, the so called "Self Made Man" and individual achievement is the great idolatry of our time. 

What what are we doing in our Churchianity when we praise the praise leader and worship the worship leader's ability to usher in God's presence?  As if God needed ushering because He couldn't find His seat at church!! The question is, would God come to our churches in the first place if all we have to offer him are half-hearted worship songs that go as deep as a teacup when the universe itself is a poor container of the GLORY of God!

What a low view we have of God when we think He only moves through these so called great men of God who hold big services and show off their healing ability or their ability to hear God when they don't even know His Word or even preach His Word.  If we truly are desperate for a Word from God should we not be desperate for the Word OF God that has already been given!?  The presense of the Lord is both great and terrible!  It is so awesome that amazing that we should stand in dread!  We should stand in dread and fear even though we are on His side, or are we? 

Examine yourselves to see whether you are truly in the faith; test youreslves.  Do you not realize that Chist Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test. 
2 Corinthians 13:5

Today I got to see my wife in action as she was a guest speaker for a children's ministry at a local church just down the street from where we live.  She was amazing!  And I'm not saying it just cuz I'm her husband.  She really is a powerful speaker.  In her Easter message to these kids she talked about God's character (which by the way is sorely lacking in our preaching today) and one of the attributes of God she talked about was God's self-sufficiency. 

This got me thinking...
God is self-sufficient. 
Meaning he doesn't need anyone or anything.  He relies only on himself.  He needs no other. 

Therefore, the angels who serve Him in His presence are priviledged to be where they stand.

• They are not there to feed his ego as if he needed an ego boost or to remind Him just how holy He is.
• They're not there because he needs some slave to clip his toe nails. 
• They are not there so that He can have his grapes peeled as if he needed grapes or anything to nourish Him.

Therefore, us humans, who are we to presume he needs us as servants to serve Him or His church.

• We are not here because He needs to be praised.  It is our privilege to praise Him
• We are not here because He needs willing people to advance His message.  He gives us that honored priviledge.
• We are not here to build His church buildings or make clever bumper stickers and T-shirts to make Him famous.  The universe is His handiwork. 

As if God needed anything from us!  He has cattle on a thousand hills and He does not need any of them to nourish Him, impress Him or make Him feel good about himself.  What does God need to accomplish?  Nothing at all!  Who is there that He wants to impress.  None!  And what can anyone do to impress God who created all these things?  God who created imagination itself.  He who created stars and sticks, galaxies and gum, comets and crayons needs to impress no one. 

It is then out of His good pleasure and joy to share the gifts of relationship, beauty and creativity!  Who are we to enter into the awesome presence of God?  Who are we to ask for His presence to come to us?  Do we know what we are asking of this self-sufficient God to come?  Should we not tremble at His great presence?  I think it is a worthwhile endeavor to ponder on these things.  I would love to be able to spend hours thinking about the character of God.  To remove myself from the fast food culture of your way right away and next day delievery and instead plant myself in one place long enough to discover the mighty whispers of His cosmic love found in the humility of a child born in an animal trough and shamefully killed on a tree forever shaming the enemies of God, including you and including me. 

My dear friends, love God not because you have to, but because you get to. 

KINGDOM LIFESTYLE

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful... (...to someone like you and me!)  
Luke 6:35-36 (paranthetical statement mine)

What a way to live!  In our world today we live by what we owe people and what people owe us whether by favors or money or even love.  For instance, keeping record of who did the dishes:  I need to stop counting how many times I do it and I should just do it.  That is Christ living at home with my wife. 

But how about in the world?  Are we really willing to let people borrow stuff without attachment and expecting things back?  We are so obsessed over what God wants us to do for our job or school or whatever life decisions.  But God is more interested in how we live and if we truly obey in these things which are of far greater worth in the life to come.  Do we really believe in the life to come?

MOTHER TERESA - SUPERSTAR?

Recently I saw a movie with my wife about Mother Teresa and I was really challenged because of her life and her faith.  With all her passion and compassion, she sought to love the least in Calcutta because she saw Jesus in every dying beggar and every abandoned child.  She even made a city for the lepers and helped to feed and care for them.  But the one thing that really challenged me was her humility and how she always said that it wasn't her but that she was but a pencil in God's hand.  I believe her. 

I also believe that we make saints into superstars just so that we feel that what they achieved was too lofty for most normal people and we then rid ourselves of any obligation to follow them.  I think Mother Teresa was just a normal Christian who decided to obey God.  So if she is what a normal Christian should be, loving the poor and needy of the city, regardless of what they believe, then we really have a long way to go before we even begin to understand what the gospel is and what it means for our day to day life.  Instead of judging, let's be the love of God incarnate.  Jesus made manifest through our lowly lives.  And instead of attempting to achieve something great for God, let God achieve somethign great in our lives, that is, the death of ourselves that God would be glorified in our death.  Death of will and the death of the claim to any fame.  To Jesus be the glory!!