Christians from the earliest days talked about how self-centeredness lies at the root our sinful nature. They described it as being inward-turned. A perfect story of self-centeredness is with the Greek character Narcissus. Narcissus fell in love with himself and became consumed to the point of ignoring everything else in the world. He looked at himself all day--bending and twisting to see himself. He would bend over to see himself, and in the bending he'd keep curling more and more and shrinking away from the world until one day he became nothing. As Eugene Peterson puts it--he "died on a diet of himself".
Now we don't consume ourselves, but don't we tend to put ourselves at the center of the world. "I don't want to," or "That's not how I like it," or "That's mine!" Those are words that we learn at an early age and learn to repeat regularly.
What if discipleship was "all about me"? We don't bluntly say that we worship ourselves, but I think sometimes it's all too true. (Click the video below to watch a funny video poking fun at "me worship".)
Ok - so the video is a little "over the top". I don't know anybody who'd come straight out and say that they are the center of their own worship. But still, our self-centeredness plauges us. It seems like we can never get rid of it.
How does our self-centeredness show up in our faith life? Too often we tell God "how it's gonna be" rather than bend our will to God's.
James Harnish--in the book "Radical Renovation"--describes it this way. We tell God that we want to be a Christian--that we want to be a disciple. We let God in to do a little bit of work in our lives. But God has much bigger plans for our lives. "When God begins the work of interior renovation in our small, narrow, self-addicted lives, God has a big idea. God’s renovation plan is to rebuild our little lives into a place where God can take up residence and be at home."
So...where is God looking to do some work in your life? Is there an area that you've guarded? Or perhaps you have a lingering addiction that keeps you from fully following the way of Chirst.
QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION: WHEN IN YOUR LIFE HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED A "RADICAL RENOVATION"--WHEN GOD CAME AND MADE SOME EXTRAORDINARY CHANGES IN YOUR LIFE?
Peace,
rc
