The Selfie

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Yesterday I lead out with the oxygen mask and ended with a comment about lording it over others. There are two aspects to that statement which deserve attention. One is the person delivering the word and the other receiving the word.

Care must be taken in delivering a word without applying the word to your own life. The satisfaction one can get from “doing” a good work should not come from self-satisfaction. It will often manifest itself in thoughts and speech related to “look what I have done.”

When James told us “faith without works is dead” he was speaking to faith in Christ not faith in self-confidence nor self-satisfaction. The selfie does things to look good.

The secondary harm is to the one receiving the word. The real danger in allowing others to lord it over us is in the denial of the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us. We are giving power to people when they are serving self rather than serving God. We should receive the Word of the Lord from the Lord and have no care nor concern as to who delivers that Word. It could be a child who is immature or it could be a non-christian who has no idea they are being used of God.

Our basis of faith relationship is that gift of faith God placed in us to hear the Lord in anything of the Lord. The faith should also tell you when a word of scripture is given without God initiating the work. That takes a relationship with the Lord, not a relationship with a person.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Oxygen Mask

2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

During a preflight demonstration a flight attendant shows you how to apply the oxygen mask. Instructions are given to place this on yourself before applying to young children. The natural instincts of loving parents is to insure the safety of the children first.

Now let us apply this same principle to the Word of the Lord. There are times when you come across a Word of the Lord that is needful, much like the oxygen is needful. Do you think about someone who could be encouraged or instructed or chastened as a needful thing? Perhaps you do because it is part of this ministry of fellowship to which we all share.

Did you apply that Word of the Lord to yourself first?

Natural instincts are to help those you love but in order to do that, we need to make sure we have put on the Word ourselves first before we can help others.

Ecclesiastes 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

If you do not apply the Word of the Lord to yourself first, you are only lording it over others.