Do you see how the message that it's 'not about us' becomes all about us when it's a message of how important we are to God and His purposes? News flash: God loves us but he doesn't need us to accomplish his purposes.
Here's the real reason it's not about us: we have nothing to do with who we are in God except for accepting it (maybe). Here's a great definition of salvation from Paul:
"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
(Ephesians 1:11-14 ESV)
God had a purpose for us. That purpose was to send His only son to save us from the wrath we had incurred by our lawlessness. God sent some faithful missionary into our lives who preached the gospel carefully enough that when we heard it, we came to beleive in Christ. Then God sealed us with His Holy Spirit. The only part of that that we could possibly have been responsible for is the beleiving, but if we are honest we would have to admit that none of us would have beleived that God came to earth in the flesh, was put to death by the Romans on a cross at the insistence of the Jews, was buried for three days and then rose from the dead. It's ludicrous! So in all likelihood our beleif as well came from God too.
And that's why it's not about us. Not because we have chosen of our free will to stop doing things our way and to live according to God's percieved purposes, but because we didn't earn any of it. Christian, you are this very morning a child of God, fully redeemed by the blood of the lamb. That is your purpose. Walk in it and see where God leads you.
Here's the real reason it's not about us: we have nothing to do with who we are in God except for accepting it (maybe). Here's a great definition of salvation from Paul:
"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
(Ephesians 1:11-14 ESV)
God had a purpose for us. That purpose was to send His only son to save us from the wrath we had incurred by our lawlessness. God sent some faithful missionary into our lives who preached the gospel carefully enough that when we heard it, we came to beleive in Christ. Then God sealed us with His Holy Spirit. The only part of that that we could possibly have been responsible for is the beleiving, but if we are honest we would have to admit that none of us would have beleived that God came to earth in the flesh, was put to death by the Romans on a cross at the insistence of the Jews, was buried for three days and then rose from the dead. It's ludicrous! So in all likelihood our beleif as well came from God too.
And that's why it's not about us. Not because we have chosen of our free will to stop doing things our way and to live according to God's percieved purposes, but because we didn't earn any of it. Christian, you are this very morning a child of God, fully redeemed by the blood of the lamb. That is your purpose. Walk in it and see where God leads you.
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