We might say, that’s not me you’re talking about as being self-centered but maybe is it true of all of us? Do we get concerned about our self-image and fail to respond to needs of others we see because we aren’t sure how others will view it? Do we compare ourselves with someone who appears more spiritual or more successful? As I read Albert Haase’s book, The Sacred Moment, he writes how his spiritual director told him, “I think what would give God the most pleasure and delight is if you became the best Albert Haase that God created you to be. That’s the real secret to spiritual formation and contemporary holiness.” We were never meant to become just like someone else so why compare but instead gladly receive who the Lord made us to be and to do the works He has for us to do.
Perhaps we see that even spiritual leaders deal with self-absorption and though they rejoice in what God may be doing, secretly want to be the one through whom God is doing it. Maybe they see the powerful move of the Holy Spirit and want to be one getting the credit for their many prayers; or perhaps find it hard to rejoice if God is blessing the church in a big way down the road. The more we die to self the more we can rejoice in how God uses others, even if we are in the background. Let us have selfless responses and rejoice however God works and whomever God works. (Gal 2:20)
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