All you need is love?

"I thought Christianity was primarily about loving people, but it's not. Truthfully, not until the last ten years of my life have I ever put much effort into loving God. I wanted God to love me. I wanted God to help others love me. I wanted God to help melove others. Somehow I missed the most significant commandment in the Bible. Love God.

I found it so liberating to discover that the universe is not all about me. I don't have to be the special kid or the center of attention. I simply need to love God. Even prayer is not about me. I simply need to love God. Even prayer is not about me. Jesus said, "Pray like this: Father, hallowed, reverenced, and honored is your name." Immediately Jesus shifted attention to God. When you pray, shift your attention away from yourself as well. It's not about you or me; it's about him.

These days I'm not looking for self-worth. I'm not trying to feel special. I don't have to be God's poster child. I am just me, loving God. I have walked away from absurd religion that doesn't work. I'm inviting you to do the same.

It's very simple. If God's kingdom and rule is going to come into your life now, then your kingdom and rule must step aside. This is healthy for you. It is healthy for me. It really comes down to the old, forgotten idea Jesus talked about of "dying to self". That sounds a lot different that self-esteem - and it should. God's way is not through pumping ourselves up; it's through humility and loss of self.

The "me" generation cannot be first anymore. The center must change. It is time for a God centered religion. When that change happens, God's presence will be real rather than rare. We will get the God of the Bible back. We will see the power of God." (Pastor Steve Gray "My Absurd Religion by Which I Make my Living")

I would like to be able to simply say "Yeah! That's right!" but, I have a lot to say about it. Perhaps I will be able to put it as minimally as possible; perhaps not.

I have to agree that we have found ourselves in the midst of the "me" generation. For the most part, humanity is concerned about one thing and one thing only "ME!". "How will that affect me?" How will this affect my future?" How am I going to deal with that?" "What is my purpose, my goal, my vision, my destiny, my calling?" "That's not the way I do things." "I take what I feel applies to me out of the Bible, sermons etc."

Where is the focus there? Me, me, me. We need to purpose to switch our focus from us to God. It's not about "me". I know. I am in my own learning and restructuring curve on this; it is, in the beginning, difficult to pray with your focus on God instead of self or making your decisions based on God and not you. Instead of turning God into an add-on feature in our lives we need to capture him, grab onto him, set him in our sights and make HIM our focus... I guess that Toby Keith song is misleading. You know the one, "I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number 1..."