Isaiah 41:10 English Standard Version (ESV) fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

When we first come to Christ it is all about self. The life we lived is no longer desirable for a number of reasons but the reason we come to Christ is initially all about being saved. What we are being saved from at that point is not important. We just want to feel better about ourselves.

My moment came when I uttered my first prayer to God, “I don’t want to be like this.” What I was in my personal life wasn’t working for me. I wanted something different.

Look again at Isaiah 41:10 and ask ourselves these questions. Do I want to be strengthened? Do I want help? Do I want to be held up in righteousness? It would seem that we do. In doing this we have taken the I in Isaiah 41:10 and transformed it from meaning God to self.

There is a message that has been preached at us over and over again.

Romans 8:29 English Standard Version (ESV) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

“I am going to look like Jesus.”

The message preached to some of us is all about changing self and making it acceptable to God. Here is the truth about that thinking, it is still about me, self, and what I want. No one tells us the truth about Isaiah 41:10.

Isaiah 41:9 English Standard Version (ESV) you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

God was speaking to His servants.

When do we begin to see Jesus as Lord and not just Savior?

I didn’t see that when I asked to be changed. It was still all about me back then.

Psalm 119:7 English Standard Version (ESV) I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.[a]

Footnotes a  Or your just and righteous decrees;

When I held my youngest daughter for the first time a nurse came in and commented: “I’ve never seen a newborn take to the father with so much comfort before.”

I loved her before she was born. I was comfortable with her and she felt right in my arms.

I think of Father God in the same manner. She had done nothing to deserve my love and we have done nothing to deserve His love, yet there it is, qualified without effort.

What struck me this morning was the OT attitude that we could not praise God with an upright heart until we achieved a proper understanding of His just and righteous decrees. Just like my newborn daughter isn’t resting in the arms of the One who loves us with comfort and security enough?

I suspect my newborn had an upright heart, she had done nothing but breathed and slept since she met me. Innocence is so sweet.

By the time we get around to reading Psalm 119:7 we have lost that innocence.

Innocence lost is never restored, at least not yet. I cannot speak for our future eternal state.

Now we are stuck in the state of consciousness that tells us we cannot praise God without an upright heart because we have not learned all His just and righteous decrees? That doesn’t seem right.

Then I remember that Jesus is the game changer. We no longer live via the old covenant rules, we live by faith in the only One who is righteous, upright in heart. Having no righteousness of my own, I live by His.

In this life my conscience is subject to His Lordship and I should not allow even my own thoughts to guilt trip me into believing I cannot praise HIm because I am not good enough.

Praise isn’t about me, it is about Him. It isn’t about what I have or have not done, but rather what He has done and is doing. I should not withhold praise because of how I feel about myself.