Monday, March 29th, 2010 "On the Contrary"

Tsunami Devotional by Steve Keaton
Title: "On the Contrary"
Text: Exodus 20:3 (NIV)
"You shall have no other gods before Me."

Way back in the day, when I was just a wee little fellow, making my way through the hallways of my high school, I was only interested in a few things.

1. Sports
2. Girls
3. World History

I know, pretty predictable on the first 2 things. What can I say. I was typical guy. However, the 3rd was one that, if you knew me during that time, would probably shock you. I wasn't much of a student. I had a tendency to do just enough to get by in most classes. Except World History. I loved it and it was basically the only class I truly gave my best effort in. I loved learning about the past cultures and societies that lived on the earth, and what they were all about.

One piece that really jumped out at me was the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything else revolved around it. I can understand the concept and why people of that time would believe such an idea. Why not? From their vantage point, they lived, as an intelligent society, and by simply looking toward the sky they would see things like the moon, stars and other amazing celestial bodies moving from east to west in the midnight sky. But something changed. That idea was proved to be wrong and instead of our planet being the most important and most meaningful, we finally realized we orbited something bigger, more meaningful and more powerful. The Sun. What a crushing blow to the ego. But, we have become a well-adjusted planet. Haven't we?

However, when it comes to our daily lives, and even for those of us that consider ourselves Christ-Followers, we often still make our way through life with an "It is all about me" or "I'm the center of the universe" attitude. We want what we want, when we want it. And if those around us don't recognize this, then they are wrong, against us and should just get out of the way. And that even includes our relationship with God.

Think about it. Next time you pray, write down what your prayer consists of. How much of it is "Me" focused instead of "HE" focused? We tend to pray for or seek the things that will best meet our needs of enable to get ahead in this world. Is that the true purpose? It is so easy to look back at those societies that firmly believed that the Earth was the center of it all, many, many years ago, and say "How silly they were." Yet today we don't necessarily look at the planet we occupy as the center of it, but we have no problem thinking WE are the center of it all. And until we truly begin to realize that God is the center, most powerful and most important thing of all, we will never fully become all we can be, live the lives God desires us to live, and truly impact the kingdom of God with all God has gifted us with.

So, next time you begin to huff and puff and even think about blowing someone's house down, all in the name of "It is all about me!", remember one very important thing. If it isn't all about God, it just isn't worth it, and you have totally missed the point.