Far from Center

By default, human beings operate on the basis, "I will be like the Most High." We spend a lot of time training the youngest not to, with questionable success. With the advent of helicopter parents and the "global good" of "just be yourself" and "don't let anyone stop your dreams," the latest generation is being called the "me generation" because they have been taught to embrace "me first." But pointing at them doesn't help; we all do it.

When it comes, then, to being a Christian -- a follower of Christ -- we find a rearranged world. We find that we are not the center. On one hand, the sooner we learn that, the better off we are. On the other hand it's such a foreign concept that many of us struggle with it.

Take, for instance, the "cheerful giver." The term isn't obscure. We all know "God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor 9:7). We all know, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35). But for most of us giving doesn't come naturally. Consider. The common question among Christians is "How much am I required to give?" One statistic says that if Christians tithed -- gave 10% -- there would be an additional $165 billion available for churches to use. But what do we see? Christians on average give 2%. Wait! What did we likely hear as you were reading these last two sentences? Someone has likely countered, "Christians aren't required to tithe!" The statement is true. There is no New Testament command to for Gentile believers to tithe. And that, dear reader, is why we Christians like to ask, "How much am I required to give?"

You will note that the question is, at its core, wrong headed. It comes from "I" and assumes "me" at the center. It begins with the premise, "What I have is mine." Scripture, on the other hand, asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). David declares, "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein." (Psa 24:1). God's Word is not unclear; everything belongs to God. Applying that fact to the question at hand, it would seem that the proper question would be, "How much do I actually need to keep?" Instead of "How much stuff can I accumulate? How much pleasure can I purchase? How much comfort in life can I buy?", we should be asking, "What does the Owner of these funds want me to do with them for His glory?" Instead of "How much am I required to give?" it should be "How little can I keep?"

But that's not us, is it? Surrendering all like that seems ... unnatural. So we try to determine how little we have to give up or how far we can go toward sin or how much time do we actually need to spend in prayer and God's Word? We have lives. We have concerns. We are people on the go and we are, beyond all that, very important. Some of us where better masks over our "me first" attitudes, but not one of us is free of it. So Jesus's "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23) seems pretty harsh. And that's simply because we are still people in sinful flesh (Rom 7:22-24) who forget that we are far from the center. The world does not revolve around "me."