Self Centered Christian

This jewel might step on some toes so if I offend you, you must have needed it :) A few weeks ago I was having a really hard time with my emotions. I will confess to you that I’m guilty of not letting people know when I need someone. It makes me feel weak and maybe a bit embarrassed so apparently it’s a pride issue. It also goes against the very advice I give others that they need to reach out when they need a person to talk to. So here I was feeling pretty down and needing a friend. I finally decided I would put my pride aside and call someone. I made the first call and got voice mail. I decided to leave a message and even though I felt pathetic I said “I really need a friend, emphasis on need, and again need you to call me back so we can get together.” I took a deep breath, waited a little while and then decided to call another friend. Same thing, voice mail. I left yet another cry for help message that I needed a call back. I’m sorry to say that neither one of these friends called me back that day. It was actually days later before I got a return call. Too little too late.
I was so upset with the Lord because I blamed Him that no one called me back. I had a hissy fit and let him know that I understand He wants me to carry all my burdens to Him but sometimes I NEED a person with skin on to talk to and maybe even give me a hug. I had my tantrum and then before I went to sleep I told the Lord I was sorry and prayed that He would send me someone to talk to. The next morning the phone rang and God in deed answered my prayer. You never know how He’s going to do things. It was no one I would have expected actually it was a woman I had only met one time before and she told me the Holy Spirit told her to call me. We had a mutual friend and that’s how she got my number. She came to the house and we ministered to each other and I was so thankful to my sweet Jesus for taking care of me.
Weeks later I was getting ready to go somewhere and the Holy Spirit said to me “do you remember the night you were so upset with me because you couldn’t find a friend?” I said “yes.” He then went on to tell me that we have become a very self centered people. That we are so wrapped up in our own lives we don’t take time for the hurting people around us. He told me that we have become so selfish that we don’t take the opportunities God gives us to be Jesus for someone. That He sometimes drops an opportunity right into our lap to serve Him and we still don’t do it. He told me that’s what happened that night; He dropped me right into two people’s lives and gave them an opportunity to minister for Him. They didn’t even have to look for someone He provided the situation all they had to do was respond. The Holy Spirit said He was just as grieved as I was that neither one returned my call and He didn’t appreciate me blaming God for it.
Well I just stood there for a moment speechless. When I finally got the nerve to speak I asked the Lord to forgive me for not assuming the best of Him and for blaming Him.
I wondered how many times the Lord dropped someone in my lap and I missed it. How many times did I walk right by someone that was crying out for help and I didn’t hear them because I was too self absorbed.
We call ourselves Christians but do we really know what that means. Dictionary.com Christian definition: exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike.
There was an email that went around a long time ago. It asked if it were a crime to be a Christian and you were taken to court would there be enough evidence to convict you? I pray that if I have to stand before a judge and jury there will be more than circumstantial evidence to convict me of being a Christian.
The Christian walk is all about serving and loving. Jesus said it was the second most important commandment, that we love one another. It is impossible to love someone else if you’re completely absorbed in yourself.
1 Corinthians 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
1 Corinthians 10:24 Amplified Bible Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but (rather) each one of the other let him seek the welfare of his neighbor.
Philippians 2:4, 21 each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. For everyone looks out for his own interest, not those of Jesus Christ.
There’s a story in Mark 2 about a paralytic man, his four friends cared so much for him and wanted him healed that they carried him on his mat to the house where Jesus was. When they got there it was so crowded they couldn’t get to Jesus so they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down, can you believe that! Jesus saw their faith and healed him. The story doesn’t say how far a walk it was or how hard it must have been to carry the friend on the mat onto the roof without dropping him. It doesn’t say how long it took to dig the hole in the roof or how tired their arms were but it goes without saying that these were not selfish men.
Self centered and Christian should never be in the same sentence. Let’s all make an effort to exhibit a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ and bring back the true definition of a Christian.

Gena’s Jewels