Have Cheap Luggage, Will Travel

Surprise - It's Just Not About You!

I was in Anaheim,CA for a Women of Faith event this weekend and overheard several comments that got me thinking.

“I hope I am able to expend every bit of energy I have for the things I believe in.”

That was how one of our special guests, Nicole C. Mullen, responded to a journalist who asked her if she ever got tired of how much she traveled on top of having a family.

“What should have been a devastating tragedy in my life has put me in a position to lead an amazing prison ministry and more than anything this tragedy makes me lean on my God because I have nothing left personally to give.”

Carol Kent, whose son is prison for 1^st degree murder with no possibility of parole, now co-leads a prison ministry with her son. She was talking to a journalist about the beauty of a broken spirit.

“I’m afraid to marry a woman from the states. They want to get married for themselves, for their own pleasure - not because they want to raise a family. Americans are beautiful people but they are never happy because they are so self-indulgent.”

This last comment is from my Iranian cab driver on the way to the airport. He was talking about how he has lived all over the world and loves to hate Americans because it is frustrating to watch them be so close to happiness and still manage to keep themselves from it.

All of these comments basically reminded me about how life is just not about us but we still struggle to try and make it that way anyway.

Maybe that is why so many of us get divorced. We get married to fill that hole in ourselves with a person but in the end that never works because there is nothing fulfilling about pursuing your own pleasures. Essentially, we just keep one upping ourselves and needing a better toy or relationship to fill our void.

For example, I have a friend that is always putting himself in debt to get another four wheeler, jet ski, boat, house and the list goes on and on because he is bored with his life. I always say that he is just entertaining his eyes until he dies. People! We were meant for something greater than this.

Living your life for your own pleasure will eventually get you to the end of yourself and it is a shorter trip than you think. I was glad for the reminder that life is not about me – especially because I am Christian.

Read: Ephesians 1:11-14
Ask: Salvation is often talked about as a very personal event but is it possible we are not the main for God’s work of salvation? What does this scripture indicate is the final goal of salvation?

Read: Philippians 1:12-26
Ask: As Paul wrote this, he was being imprisoned for preaching the gospel. How would you react in the same situation?

Read: Galatians 6:7-10

Ask: This verse talks about pleasing our own sinful nature and how that leads to destruction. Can you think of a time where that statement was true for you? What does the verse say about our opportunities?