It's not about you...

Just a little food for thought today...but then again, since when have things like "a little" or "short" or "a quick word" meant anything to me?  So, it may be a 7 course meal for thought-just to warn you.

I think we throw out phrases all the time and don't really look behind them for anything more.  We were driving down the road the other day and someone cut us off causing us to slam on brakes really quickly in order to narrowly avoid an accident.  My oldest son asked me why do people do that.  To which I answered, "Baby, it's not about you.  It's about them."  And really, that moment was about them.  They cut over like we weren't even on that road.  Like there was no value in my life, my children, my car...nothing.  They just were not thinking about me at all.  I wasn't even a blip on their radar.

But then the Lord began to show me that no, it isn't about me to them.  Now stay with me because this even confused me...

It is NOT about me.  To my fellow Christ followers, maybe in their hearts and minds it at times will be about me as they serve like Christ.  To me, I must forsake myself to serve those around me in Jesus' name.  But nowhere do I find in scripture that I am to serve my needs first because it is not about me.  But here's the crux of it.  To Jesus, it is all about you.  If it weren't about you, there would have been no need for him to die as the perfect sacrifice.  He came to this earth as a servant.  It was all about me (you too). 

So to untangle this in my head, here's the breakdown. 
1. It isn't about me.
2. To one of my fellow followers of Jesus, it may be about me a time or two as they seek to serve Christ through servant hood.
3. To those who do not know Jesus- it's not about you.  It is about them.  It is about their needs in their mind and their desires in their mind.
4.  To those of us who do know Jesus and encounter those who don't know Him- it is all about them.  It is our outreach to preach, teach and love them so that they can come to a knowledge of Jesus.

So when we realize it is not about us, but instead about Jesus, life just becomes a bit easier. 
I found it much easier to forgive that crazy driver, because it just isn't about me.