Leaving ourselves behind

Bob over at Mr. Standfast posted a great Eugene Peterson quote that he saw over at Tabletalk.

But the minute we start advertising the faith in terms of benefits, we’re just exacerbating the self problem. ‘With Christ, you’re better, stronger, more likeable, you enjoy some ecstasy.’ But it’s just more self. Instead, we want to get people bored with themselves so they can start looking at Jesus.

We’ve all met a certain type of spiritual person. She’s a wonderful person. She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the Bible all the time. But all she thinks about is herself. She’s not a selfish person. But she’s always at the center of everything she’s doing. ‘How can I witness better? How can I do this better? How can I take care of this person’s problem better?’ It’s me, me, me disguised in a way that is difficult to see because her spiritual talk disarms us.

This describes me in so many ways. . .

In my observation, living even an intense and God-honoring Christian lifestyle with the focus reversed, with our eyes upon ourselves, leads to burn-out, loss of faith, and disillusion. The self-obsessed Christian begins performing, begins trying to meet an expected standard of behavior and devotion that, without the element of joyous self-forgetfulness that is the very mark of childlike faith, is in the long run impossible, and can only result in a dry and frustrating existence. When one is running in the mud of self-scrutiny, with his peripheral vision constantly scanning the faces of those he believes are looking on, stopwatches out, “timing” him, it’s not long before the runner slows, and then stops, and then slowly sinks into the mire.

This should not be! We are called to firmer ground, and to a cloud of witnesses who are cheering, not evaluating. And we are called to fix our eyes on Jesus, not just to glance at Him now and then. When we finally focus, when we truly look to Him, we forget ourselves. And it’s then that we run, finally, in the freedom, joy, endurance, and athletic, lithe grace for which we were created.

When we’re truly and solely looking to Jesus, we leave ourselves behind in the dust. And that’s when the joy of the run begins!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

– Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)

14 thoughts on “Leaving ourselves behind

  1. Oh my, this is very well said. I’m going to have to print this one out and show it to my friends. This is so very important, Bill, and you are the Vijay Singh of bloggers (meaning, consistently excellent)!

  2. Dude, this post is all about you.

    😉

    Great stuff, man. I’ll say it again as if I hadn’t said it before: You and Mr. Standfast are necessary to the blogosphere. What you guys do is unparalleled and, honestly, beautiful.

  3. Great stuff, man. I’ll say it again as if I hadn’t said it before: You and Mr. Standfast are necessary to the blogosphere. What you guys do is unparalleled and, honestly, beautiful.

    What he said 😉

  4. More of what Jared said dude! You and Mr. Standfast are my two absolute must reads.

    I think my favorite scripture is the Greeks asking Phillip to see Jesus. “Sir, we would see Jesus.” That is it. Plain, simple, to the point.

    Thank you very much for your word from the Lord today, even though I read this yesterday. Better late than never!

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