It's All About Me

By Ally B

“WE NEED ATTENTION, BUT WE DON’T WANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO OTHERS.”

Our guest speaker Aschalew from Ethiopia gave a great message last Tuesday on how life is simply about loving, giving, and serving others. There were a couple times he even called us out saying, “we are takers, we can’t see past ourselves…it’s all about ‘me’.” I hate even thinking about that because I know how painfully true that statement is. What really stuck out to me though is when he was speaking on how we look at our life as little experiments, almost testing to see how much we can depend on ourselves as opposed to God. He said, “It’s not about experiments, it’s about knowing your creator.”

Looking at myself I can see so clearly that much of my life has been a maybe lifestyle. I say that meaning I do things thinking maybe this will work out, maybe if I just try really hard to make things work. For you girls, maybe I’ll be the exception instead of the rule this time. All these situations are little experiments seeing what I can do for myself. Most of the time I’ve done this because it’s things that I want and has nothing to do with God’s plan for my life or in any way trusting in Him. During these times I am also not following what God has said is true and am not believing that these truth’s are written to protect us because He loves us. It’s evident that in those moments I am not in complete surrender to Christ. He is not my delight…something else so temporary has distracted me.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."

~Psalms 1:1-2

When we become so obsessed with our plan, what we want, or how great we are doing and thinking we are the exception to all the rules, how can we begin to obey the second greatest commandment? Put simply we are called to love God, and love others. (Matthew 22:37-39)

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

~Galatians 5:13-14

How are you doing today, honestly? Reflect on your life, how much time are you spending trying to make your will happen? How much time are you spending getting to know your Creator, your Savior, your Heavenly Father? Are you spending all your time, energy, and money on yourself or allowing Christ to use you in someone else’s life?

There are a lot of lonely, confused, and lost people all around us here in Dallas…are you serving and loving them well? Maybe it's even the simple question of asking the person sitting next to you now, or the next person you see..."Hey, how are you doing today? Is there anything I can pray for you about?" Then listen and pray. Try it and I'd love to hear how God uses those small gestures of love and kindness.

I pray that we not be selfish young adults here in Dallas, but we would be selfless.

I encourage you all to spend some quiet time today reflecting on these verses: 1 John 3:16-20, Romans 12:1-3, Philippians 2:1-11.