Are You God-Centered or Self-Centered? Day 2:

As Christians, we are given the gift of God's grace through His Son, Jesus Christ. We receive this gift when we repent of our self-centered ways and trust in Christ alone. In the noise that is "Christianity" - if you take the time to really listen - you will often hear a false gospel that appeals to the self-centered, individualistic nature of human beings. This false gospel appeals to the desires and felt-needs of the individual. This false gospel elevates the person above what is appropriate. This false gospel fails to mention or emphasize biblical repentance. A gospel without repentance is no gospel at all. Christ boldly tells His hearers that unless they repent they will perish. It is related to unrepentant, fruitless individuals and ministries. The prophet Isaiah declared that we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has our own way. This is a prophetic description of our own self-centeredness. We each go astray, each to our own way. This sin of self-centered, self-willed, rebellion against God-centered living was put upon the Messiah as prophesied by Isaiah in the second half of that same verse: But the LORD caused the iniquity of us all/to fall on Him. "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV).

To receive this gift of salvation, we must repent and believe the good news. We must stop living self-centered lives. Stop going astray, each to our own way. We must turn toward the living God and begin living God-centered lives. This is the genuine gospel call. Paul was excited to see those who believed on Jesus for their salvation in Thessalonica do just this: For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Wrath from God is due towards our self-centeredness. To give people a gospel call without repentance is to encourage them to continue living self-centered lives that are not God centered. Even if they are God flavored. "For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (NKJV). A God-centered life consists of loving God and loving others completely. When we walk with God and obey the Bible, we live our lives God-centered and no longer prioritize ourselves. We instead value the things God values. We can slip into being self-centered when we lose our love for God and other people. It’s possible that we can be unaware or have a hard time admitting the ways that we are living to please ourselves. What will be the center of your life? In other words, who or what are you going to live for? You have a lot of options. You need something at the center of your life that is absolutely unchanging, that can never be taken away from you. Many Christians are good at hiding their self-centeredness. It is even possible to have genuinely altruistic moments. Moments where we put others' self-interest above our own well-being. Sometimes powerful emotions like love, hate, and disgust, can cause us to act contrary to our self-centered notions. "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification" Romans 15:2 (NKJV).

Arrogant people take too many measures to protect their self-image. Their universe is usually small, with statements that have too many "should" and "must." They have idealist views, and a need to impose and make others believe that their universe is the better one. They will usually dislike you if you don't buy into that. They usually have a lot of friends, but just superficially. Their friendship is mostly about quantity not quality. They can be charming, but have an agenda. Their agenda is to find an ego feeder. They may have found ways to attract a lot of people into their world, but usually the ones who feed into their arrogance.Because if your center can be taken away, you will always be under stress, knowing you could lose your security. That’s why you need to center your life on something that is unchanging and secure. We can slip into being self-centered when we lose our love for God and other people. But how do you know when you’re living a self-centered life? It’s possible that we can be unaware or have a hard time admitting the ways that we are living to please ourselves. One of the most common areas in which Christians (new and old) tend to struggle in their spiritual journey is spending time with God. The bible is the very word of God. Our spiritual food that we must live on to help us remain God-centered. We can’t neglect reading our bibles and think that we will truly cultivate our relationship with God and live an emotionally and spiritually balanced life. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV).