Myself
Enough about you, let me tell you a bit about myself! I like attention. I like to be in charge. I like people to praise me for my skills and accomplishments. I dont like to take crap from anyone! And I dont need anyone, other than to compliment me! I am extremely smart, smarter than most of the human population. I am handsome and any woman would be blessed to have me! I understand God better than most theologians.
I can see it now, some of you are thinking,”Thats not Buck, he’s not that way at all!”. Others are saying, “You nailed it! Thats him to a tee!”. Still others are saying, “I think some of those things are true and others are not!”
The truth is, that list is me! Those are some of the things I struggle with and have struggled with much of my life. They are some of the things that hinder my relationship with people and with God.
But on the flip side I also don’t like the spotlight. I like to remain annonymous and go unnoticed. I am very happy just following and serving. I like to praise people for their talent and accomplishments and often feel embarrassed when I get noticed and complimented. I need people. My life is vacant and lonely without human interaction and touch! I strugle with comprehension and often feel very lacking in my knowledge of life, the world and its wonderful Creator. I am not a very attractive man, and I would be blessed for the attention of woman. Understanding of the ways of God often elude me and require much thought and processing to lay hold of the simplist of truths.
You see that description is me as well. I often feel like I am struggling with two “Bucks”. That can be a real challenge for me, and for anyone who is connected to me. I think at times I am crazy, but then I find that I am not alone. In Romans 7:21-24 Paul says ” . . . Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!”
Now I know many of you, and the truth is, we all struggle. And that can be a hard thing when we live in relationships. Not only in couple relationships, but even in friendships and acquaintences. We all desire to do good, but often don’t! For me personally one of the things that helps me is to keep in mind what Paul said in the book of Phillipians 2:5-11
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now let that soak in just a moment . . .In our relationships we are to become the servant! Now I want to deviate just a second here. There are some that teach that this means dying to yourself. And to a point I would agree. But that death only happened once. You see when we came to the knowledge of Christ and acceptance of Him and began the life persuit, the Bible says “Old things are passed away and all things become new” Thats it right there. We died! That very moment we were reborn! Just as Christ died once for all, our death was a one time event! Baptism signifies that!
Funeral’s are sad depressing events! Most of us walk around like that in our lives. Like we are at a daily funeral. Mourning the loss of ourselves. That can be a big hindrance in our relationships. You see it becomes hard to balance the concept of “life and life abundantly” with death and dieing. They are polor opposites. Yet we often live in death durges and wonder why our spiritual lives are so sickly and wretched.
So today, if you are a follower of Christ, you died that day. For me it was September 14th, 28 years ago. I died that day. But I was born that day as well! Celebrate your life, not your death. Live! Live in your relationships. Serve each other with joy and gladness.
Paul wraps up Romans 7 and into chapter 8 with this: ” Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ”
FREEDOM – embrace it and live it and share it together!
