From Self-Promotion to God-Promotion
There’s something about a new year that holds out hope for us to make changes in our life—changes that will help us to have a better year than the one past. The question is, how can you make 2018 a better God-pleasing year for yourself? Are you ready for a fresh new year and a new you?
From Marbles to Chocolate
Decision magazine ran a story written by Samuel Kamaleson; a Christian folk story that illustrates how the heart is prone to self-promotion. A young boy who loved to play marbles regularly walked through his neighborhood with a pocketful of his best marbles, hoping to find opponents to play against. One marble, in particular, his
special blue marble, had won him many matches. During one walk he encountered a young girl who was eating a bag of chocolate candy. Though the boy's first love was marbles, he had a weakness for chocolates. As he stood there talking with the young girl, his salivary glands and the rumbling in his stomach became uncontrollable, and he thought to himself, "I have got to get my hands on those chocolates." He came up with a plan. He asked the girl, "How about I give you all these marbles for those chocolates?" She replied, "Sounds fair to me." He put his hand in his pocket, searching for the distinguishing cracks on the surface of the blue marble.
Once he identified his favorite marble with his fingertip, he carefully pushed it to the bottom of his pocket and pulled out all the other marbles. As he handed the marbles to the girl in exchange for the chocolate, the boy thought his plan was a success. As he turned to walk away, he suddenly turned to the girl and asked, "Hey, did you really give me all the chocolates?"
How many times have you seen this same deception emerge from your heart?
Let’s be honest, our motives are not always pure. We want the blessings of the kingdom of God; the security of God's presence, answered prayers, closeness to Jesus, his grace, mercy, guidance, and direction. We want it all. That is, until God calls us to choose between his will and what we REALLY want! That's when the heart begins to fracture.
The Human Heart is Deceptive
The truth is until you’re willing to submit yourself each day to God's will and ways, the blessings coming from God's kingdom will be limited. Or to put it another way, God calls us to turn from self-promotion to God-promotion in order to discover his purposes and blessings for our lives. However, unless we understand how deceptive our hearts can be, discovering God’s best for us will be illusive.
This is nothing new! We see God addressing this issue thousands of years ago. There’s a scene in the Bible where King Solomon is constructing the first Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple would be inhabited by the Spirit of God and was God’s way of being physically present among his people of faith. So, under God’s direction, Solomon built a beautiful Temple and when completed, he dedicated it to the Lord in prayer. 2 Chronicles 7:1-3…
When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple.The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!”
So, with the Temple complete, and God physically and gloriously present with his people, God and his people were spiritually in sync. Jewish life revolved around the Temple. There was a healthy God-induced rhythm to their lives. And though life was not easy, it was good because God's people had elevated him as their first love.
Now, we’re not sure how much time went by, but the hearts of God’s people became fractured. Love of God morphed into love of self. Temple life became mechanical. Love for God was replaced by religious rules, law, custom, and tradition rather than a desire for God reflected through genuine love and adoration. So, God steps in and speaks to Solomon. He recalls Solomon’s Temple dedication prayer. He said in v. 12...
"Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices."
However, because the hearts of the people were growing increasingly divided (they had lost their first love for God), he goes on to say in v. 13...
"At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops or send plagues among you."
A benevolent God, a God of second chances, a God who desires a healthy relationship with his people gave warning to Solomon of pending trouble if they continued to move away from him. God knew that if necessary, difficult times would provide fertile motivation for his people to move from self-love to a greater desire for him.
A People Belonging to God
A key statement in this passage is in v. 14...
"Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."
What people? "My people." Let's take this truth into a new year. If you're a follower of Jesus, you belong to God. You're called to live life in and through a relationship with Jesus. You do that as you humble yourself and allow Jesus to live at the center of your life; as you pray regularly and seek the face of your Savior; as you turn from sin that you know is wicked and an affront to God. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20…
"Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."
Maybe you feel your heart growing increasingly fractured. Promotion of self is growing over promotion of God. Understand this: Finding joy in life is in direct proportion to your love for God. The degree in which you pursue self-promotion or God promotion will dictate elevation of self or crowning Jesus as Lord and King of your life. In this new year, what will you choose?
Ronald Rolheiser, president of the School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas says this: "We want to be a saint, but we also want to feel every sensation experienced by sinners; we want to be innocent and pure, but we also want to be experienced and taste all of life; we want to serve the poor and have a simple lifestyle, but we also want all the comforts of the rich; we want to have the depth afforded by solitude, but we also don’t want to miss anything; we want to pray, but we also want to watch television, read, talk to friends, and go out."
Do you enter each day with the understanding that you belong to God? As you enter 2018, ask yourself, who is sitting on the throne of my life? What will you do to give yourself a fresh new year and a new you?
Next Step
1. What changes do you want to make in your life that would move you from self-promotion to a greater degree of God-promotion? List them. Prioritize the changes.
2. Start fresh in 2018. Pray and ask God you help you make changes to the area of your life that is your top concern. Make a commitment to a first love for God rather than divided loyalty.
3. Are you finding that your love for God is being replaced by religious rules, customs, and traditions rather than a genuine desire for God? If so, today, humble yourself, seek the face of Jesus, pray, turn from known sin. God's promise is that he will forgive your sins and restore your relationship with him.
