It's Not About You. Oh, Really?

[HKHaugan]

It seems time to revisit the idea that the author states in the opening of his book, The Purpose Driven Life. “It’s not about you,” he says. There are really three appeals made in that statement. First, it is an appeal to consider what you believe. Second, it is an appeal to consider whom you are trusting to structure your life. Third, it is an appeal to consider acting in faith. In all three it is you who is the center of the appeal. It is you who is being challenged to look into yourself and face the real you. It is you who is being asked to read the book. It is you who is being confronted by its contents. It really is about you isn’t it? When you finish the book it really leaves you with a question. What will you do as a result of having been put to the test? How will you respond? It is about you after all.

After having read the book myself I found that I was the center of attention. It was going to be up to me to draw some conclusions. In reality it was not only about me but it put me on the spot. The world and its future revolved around my decisions from that point on. The very nature of the universe rode on what I thought, what I felt, what I was going to do. If I did not buy into settling in on the purpose for my life and then allow myself to be driven by it, it would all be for naught. The world, the universe and existence would collapse. It is about me after all. It’s about my decisions and my choices.

Now let me make it quite clear. I am not panning the book. I found it compelling, hitting the right buttons and taking me into deeper personal awareness of my need to give of myself, my gifts and my own uniqueness. But it did cause me, the ‘I’ in me, the self-conscious being in me to evaluate me as a created image of God and what it means to be His child. That is what I am getting at. That’s the way we all are. We may say it’s not about me but the reality is that it is about who I am in the eyes of God, how I see myself in relationship to Him and how I respond as a result especially when I am in the world of others.

If then it is true that it really is about me, what am I being led to think like? Is this too self-centered, sinful and prideful? As I read Scripture I would like to suggest there might be another way to see ourselves. We are a 300% people. We are called to be 100% yielded to God, 100% self-conscious and 100% consumed with the needs of others. I take my cue from Jesus’ prayer in John 17 where Jesus prays 100% for the Father to glorify Him so that He may 100% glorify the Father and be 100% involved in the lives of sinners.

How do we live that 300% life? First, our prayer life, our study of Scripture, our worship, our growing as disciples in the Body of Christ, our sharing and our service to others places us totally, 100%, open to the control of the Father through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We praise Him, thank Him, place our minds completely in Him. We are His instruments to be used as He wills.

Second, we know that our place in the world is to be self-conscious disciples, that is self-conscious in the sense of applying ourselves 100% to the tasks we are given with the best effort and using the best of the world knowledge we have to do the best job we can with them. If we are students we give our minds to learn the most we can. If we are workers or bosses we give it our all by learning the most we can and how best to be a colleague with others. If we are husbands, wives, relatives and friends we keep our hearts open to being the best we can in any situation.

Third, we are 100% involved in the lives of others whether they are family, friends, workers or casual acquaintances. There is no end to the needs that lay out there before us everyday. When we are in presence of others we want to give them our complete attention and that’s not easy. Our lives are weighted down with concerns that nag in the very moments of a conversation we might be having. Distractions come at the least opportune times. But every person is a need waiting to be met, a person hungry for the Gospel, a hurting heart pleading for love and maybe, just maybe, a potential image of God in need of becoming a child of God.

Summed up let’s put it this way. When I give 100% of my attention to God He frees me to give 100% to be the best person I can in order to give my self 100% to others. Each of these 100%’s involves my concentration when I am giving it to God, to self-development and to others.

When I study Scripture or I’m in worship and prayer, the Lord is 100% my sole concentration because everything depends on Him.

When I am conscious of my responsibilities in any relationship or task I give it my all to learn the skills, the sensitivity and the requirements necessary as thought it all depends on me.

When I am in the midst of others I give them 100% of my attention so that I learn about them, hear their hearts and respond to their needs.

Again I take my cue from the Lord Jesus who is recorded in the Word to be a 300% Savior and Lord. He was 100% for His Father, 100% for Himself and 100% for others, each in their respective moments.

Finally, it comes down to this. The Lord Jesus is the single example of what it means to be balanced in purpose, task and motivation wherever, whenever and among whomever. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to be 300% people--- 100% in the mind of the Father, 100% in the heart of Jesus as Lord and 100% being led in faith by the Spirit. Now that’s balance.