Give and Take

To be self-centred is a trait synonymous with mankind. The first commandment is that 'you shall have no other Gods before me'. God should be first in everything we do. When we think about breaking this commandment, we usually think about the things in our lives that we put first, such as hobbies or other people, however most often it is ourselves that we put before God. We love to do things for our own benefit, rather than for Gods.

Everything in today's world is geared towards 'me' and 'I'. We love these two words. We love to talk about these two words and we love to do things for these two words. 

I will go on a diet to make 'me' look good. I will buy the latest clothes and fashions to make 'me' look trendy. I will do this to make 'me' feel good. I will do this to make 'me' feel healthy. Even things that we do to help others are very often done to benefit ourselves. For example, we do charity work to help others, however we do it to make ourselves look, feel and appear good within ourselves and to others.

This self-centred nature we all possess infects our relationship with God: we only worship God because it makes 'us' feel happy; we only worship God because 'we' like the drum beat to the music; 'we' accept God because it makes 'us' feel happy; we have a relationship with Him because He is there for 'us'. Well I challenge these people, that this sort of worship is not worship at all, but mere shallow-empty-shouting. A true worshipper is one who worships God in the good and in the bad, because he realises that it is not about him, it is about God! Just as Job worshipped the Lord in Job 1:21, after all his family and possessions had been harshly taken from him.

We so often see God as something that we take to benefit 'ourselves'. We are willing to exalt God the Saviour, God the friend, God the comforter, God the guide, God the helper. But, when are we going to exalt God the Lord Almighty?

The man-centred gospel that is preached, that preaches only half the gospel, only touches on forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness. It will not speak of our sin, filth and separation of God, it will speak of Gods forgiveness only. The consequence of this is that we become accustomed to treat grace as a common thing. We no longer respect grace as the undeserving gift of God that we should cling on to and never let go. Instead we start to see it as a way to live how we want to live, but then jump onto grace and claim it for ourselves when we most need it. It becomes a very one-sided relationship. You would not treat your friend in this way. If you were to take, take, take from your friend, then my guess is that that person is not your friend at all, but rather someone you use and take advantage of when you need them. In these situations it would be better to leave the 'friend' alone completely rather than using and abusing them.

Matthew 7:21-23:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

If you like to use God for the benefits and not be willing to take on the responsibilities or changes that come with accepting Christ as your saviour, then you are best to leave God alone completely rather than lull yourself into a false sense of security. Relationships are give and take. They are not take, take, take. If this describes your relationship or view of God then you run risk of falling into the Matthew 7:21-23 category. When you die you will be told by God: "depart from Me, I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).

If we are to grow in our relationship with God we must realise that it is not about us! We have to start putting God before ourselves and simply exalt God because He is God. Not because He has done something for us.

God loves us so much that He has blessed us with amazing things and done amazing things for us that we do not deserve. However we should not love God just because of the things that He has done for us. We should love God because He loved us first. A good wife does not love her husband because he bought her lots of things. She will love him because of who he is. In the same way we need to start loving God for who He is - the Almighty God - and not just for what He has done for us.

Lets stop seeing how much 'we can get out of God' and start worshipping God because He is God!

'You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say Blessed be your name' - Matt Redman.

Let us exalt God in the good times and in the bad times, in the hectic times and in the still times, in the exciting times and in the boring times, in the happy times and in the sad times. Exalt Him because of who He is as well as for what He has done.

1 John 4:19 "We love Him, because He first loved us."

-BACChristian