So Long Self

I was watching House the other day and I saw an episode where Dr. House had to diagnose a child. At first the child seemed to be getting better and the parents said to House that God had answered their prayer. Then the doctors found something else wrong with the child and he had to go back into surgery. House then told the parents not to pray because he didn’t want them to think that God cured their son. He wanted them to think that he cured their son. In the end the child was okay.

How many times have we been like House was? We don’t want to give the credit to God for the gifts that he gives us. If we do something amazing we sometimes don’t want to give the credit to anyone else but ourselves. We are selfish people. I believe that we’re naturally selfish. If you watch a young child playing with other children you will probably see them fighting over a toy or something because they don’t want to share. Or you might also see them doing things to get attention because they want all the attention as well. I think that they are born with the instinct to be selfish. When we get older we can stop and think and not act on our instincts. We can’t do everything on our own but we are still reluctant to ask for help from anyone including God.

We are also selfish because we may give our lives to God but then we don’t have enough time to pray or have a relationship with him. You have all probably heard about someone like this. They’re ready to file bankruptcy with bills to pay and their spouse just left them. Then they give their lives to Christ or they start volunteering or something like that and before you know it they get a check in the mail and their spouse is back. It doesn’t always happen like that. We don’t usually hear about it but sometimes that person gives their life to God and the next week they file for bankruptcy and their spouse is still gone. But just because that happened to them it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about them! When the time is right he will bless that person. In 1 Peter 5:6 we read, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.” It may not happen instantly but God will honor you for humbling yourself to his power for and living for him.

We need to be less selfish. Giving your life to God and being unselfish with him doesn’t mean that he will ask you to quit your job to move somewhere to spread the word about him. He may ask you but he also may ask you to be a friend and help out a co-worker or someone who needs a friend to talk to at that time. God will bless you if you humble yourself before him and stop being selfish. You just have to be willing to say, “So long self”.

The Big Bang

I was reading John 2:1-12 in my Bible where it tells about Jesus’ first miracle that he performed. Jesus was at a wedding where they ran out of wine. His mother was there and she told him that they had ran out and he responded. “Dear woman that is not my problem. My time has not yet come.” Later on he does make more wine when he turns the water into wine.

This is a very significant event. After this was performed it says,”this was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” This verse leads me to believe that even his disciples didn’t completely believe in him. The people that spent the most time with him needed proof that he really was who he said he was. Sometimes a big event like that is exactly what is needed to get people to believe.

Things like that happen throughout the Bible. The story of Saul is a well known example of a big event causing someone to believe in God. A light from heaven shown down on him and he heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him. That was the event that turned Saul into Paul who wrote a majority of the books in the New Testament.

God still uses big events to cause people to believe in him. Sometimes the events are good things like miraculously avoiding danger. It could also be a bad thing that could be worse like getting into a car crash and be lucky to still be alive. It’s not luck, it’s God! Some people don’t need a big event to cause them to believe but others do and God knows exactly who needs what.