Me or Jesus?

“You may think that everything you do is right, but remember that the Lord judges your motives.”    Prov. 21:2  GNT

“Wicked people are controlled by their conceit and arrogance, and this is sinful.”  Prov. 21:4  GNT

Our service for Jesus must not be hindered by self-effort; “For Christ (the Messiah) sent me out not to baptize but [to evangelize by] preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel), and that not with verbal eloquence,  lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power and rendered vain (fruitless, void of value, and of no effect)”.   I Cor. 1:17 Amp.

It is so easy to think that we are doing Jesus a service, when in reality we are feeding our own ego.  Jesus did not use theatrical devices when preaching the gospel, lest His natural talents and abilities get in the way.

The moment we become inclined towards our natural instincts is the moment we rob the cross of its persuasive power.

The cross is a power all by itself.  “And I, if I be lifted up…..will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32)      God does not need me for what I am in myself; He only needs me as a vessel to send His power through.

Our greatest problem as a servant of God is to keep the “me” from getting in His way.   What God has promised to bless is not “me” per se, but the free-flowing message of the cross through “me”.   God is obligated to honor His Son, not “me”, and He only honors “me” when “I” in turn honor His Son.

“Lord, help me to understand that You called me, not because there is some intrinsic value in me, but only because You desire to reveal Your Son in and through me.   I may draw people by means of personality, speaking gifts or talents, but that does not mean I am accomplishing Your purposes through me.”

I must be willing to follow the biblical formula; I must die if I would live; I must be submissive as Moses if I would lead people from slavery to freedom.

The great consolation is: not what “I” did for Christ, but what He was pleased to do through “me”.

“And the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”   I Tim. 1:14 (NIV)

“Let every man test his own work. Then he will be proud of his own work. He will not be proud because he thinks his own work is better than someone else's work”.  Gal. 6:4  WE