I want to read about God, not me

I have read scads of books over the years - Christian books - that were aimed more at me than God.

What I mean is that they pointed me to me instead of Christ.  Under the veneer of trying to "help" me, they did little for me in reality.

Make art for God.  Unleash your potential for God. Create something for God.

But, you say, they all talk about God!  Yes, but indirectly.  They focus on self and not Him.

It would be like looking at a newborn baby and giving no credit whatsoever to the mother.  The mother birthed and gave life to the baby.  The baby wouldn't exist apart from the mother.  Yet we ooh and aah over the baby, not the mother.

It may not be the best analogy, but maybe you catch my drift.

We are to fix our eyes on Jesus! (Hebrews 12:2)  Look though I may, I cannot find a single verse in Scripture that points me to myself, other than making me realize my need of a Savior.

The Bible is not a self-help book - it is the revelation of God to man.  It is God's story, not ours.

Do we find ourselves in its pages?  Yes. But not by it pointing to ourselves, but by pointing to God.

So many "Christian" books out there today make me extremely uncomfortable to read.  They may not have done so in that past, but they do now.  In the past, I coudln't wait to read about myself!  How to be my best, do my best - albeit, for God, but still it was about me, me, me.

We've gone astray.  Even most popular preaching revolves around us instead of God.

In Jesus' day, this would have been blasphemy.  But guess what?  Putting anyone above God is still blasphemy and always will be.  We've just learned how to package and market it better.

Harsh words?  True words.

The closer you get to Christ, the more you want of Him. The deeper you go with Christ, the less you want of anyone or anything else - including yourself!

But is it wrong that I want to develop myself, the gifts God gave me?  Only if these things take precedence over you truly knowing God.

C.S. Lewis said it well:

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us."

It is more of a surrendering than a developing.  As we surrender to Christ, we do become more who we really are - but not for effort or trying!  

I don't know where you are in your faith walk.  Maybe you prefer those "self-help Christian" reads.  We all go through phases.

But if you really want to know your purpose, I encourage you to instead of trying to figure out yourself, your purpose, your gifts, your calling, your, your, your - that you turn your focus and efforts to knowing God.  

Getting back to the newborn analogy, the newborn is not thinking, "Wow!  I am a full of potential!"  The newborn knows one thing - its need for its mother for survival.  Its food, care, love, protection all come from its mother.  It clings to mom.

We are to cling to Christ in the same way.  The newborn grows without trying - it simply drinks of its mother's milk.

We, too, as we look to Christ as our only Source of real life, will grow in His grace and likeness.

Could it be that simple?  All I know is that for all of those endless books I read over the years trying to "better" myself, I don't believe they did me any good at all, really.  My focus was on the wrong person.

Even today's worship music (don't get me started!), most of it, is "me" focused instead of God-focused.  Check out the lyrics for yourself.

The purest worship - the worship that John witnessed as revealed in the Revelation - was all about God.  The angels not once included themselves in the matter!  "You did this for me," or "Who am I in light of you?"  They were too enraptured by His glory to think about anyone or anything else other than Him!

Is this realistic?  Can we expect to be as enraptured by the beauty and awesomeness of Christ?

If you have ever been in His Presence - where His Presence was palpable - then yes, this is totally realistic.  You are lost in His loveliness without a care for yourself.  So without seeking anything for yourself, you paradoxically come away better off for worshiping Him.  You get without seeking to get.  You become who you were meant to be right then and there - a worshiper of the One, True, Living God.  

Oh Lord.  Forgive us for our bent toward self!  Forgive us for making it about us!  For we are found in You.  We are formed by You, made for You, and when we worship You, we come into true Reality.  Lead us to Your Living Water, Lord, and give us razor-sharp discernment over books and such that point us more toward self than You.  In the age os the selfie, please draw us away from all such stuff and let us find ourselves in You.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.