It’s Not About You…Oh But It Really Is
Hebrews 13:20-22 Amplified Bible (AMP)
20Now may the God of peace [Who is the Author and the Giver of peace], Who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood [that sealed, ratified] the everlasting agreement (covenant, testament), 21Strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will; [while He Himself] works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah); to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages). Amen (so be it).22I call on you, brethren, to listen patiently and bear with this message of exhortation and admonition and encouragement, for I have written to you briefly.
Yesterday I went to my twitter account and I was checking up on some of the post, because I don’t check it daily, because I had purposed not to allow any vehicle of communication to be a distraction or a stronghold that consumes or devours my time. As I scrolled through I saw a twit that simply said “It’s not about you, it’s about____.” I chuckled when I read it, because I have heard that said often and many times for the wrong reasons. If we really are to look at that comment, how much sense does it really make? Little, if people are involved in anything, it is about them, people join and become a part of things because they are looking for something, even if it is to give. When I was in the military our mantra was it is not about an individual but it is about the team and the mission, as I began to supervise people I began to see it is about people, first because those people make up the team, and it is also about how well they are trained, if they have things going on that are causing them to be distracted, it is about the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual state that they abide in that will dictate the abilities of the team and how well the mission got done. I also came to understand that our team was only as good and as capable as the weakest individual.
All too often we want to try to use phrases and statements as a means to control individuals or to make them feel convicted into submission to a particular thought or pattern of conforming, but even in the Kingdom of God, it is about us. God created us, for a reason, He sent Jesus for us. Why would I Thessalonians 4:1 say, “FURTHERMORE, [a]BRETHREN, we beg and admonish you in [virtue of our union with] the Lord Jesus, that [you follow the instructions which] you learned from us about how you ought to walk so as to please and gratify God, as indeed you are doing, [and] that you do so even more and more abundantly [attaining yet greater perfection in living this life]. God could have chosen to spread the gospel, and accomplish ministry and salvation in any way, because He is God, but instead He created man, and then He gave us dominion over the earth. Then when we messed up He provided a way to again be back in good standing with Him. Then on top of all of that He gave us power and authority to do greater works, does any of that sound like it isn’t about us? It is about us and being responsible for all that comes as a result of being us, it is about our choices, it is about our living, it is about our giving, of time, efforts, and resources it is about our thoughts our actions our reactions and our words. It is about us working or not working for the kingdom, it is about us spreading or not spreading the gospel, and it is about us representing or not representing Christ here in the earth. For some strange reason we think that making the proclamation it’s not about us or about you that it’s about God it’s a sign of humility. Yes, in fact it really is about God and the Kingdom of God being advanced but it is also about us and Christ working in and through us to accomplish the work. If we are hurt, we will minister and lead many times out of that hurt. If we are compassionate we will minister and lead out of the compassion that is within us. God is not going make us be someone that He did not create us to be. He will not force us to do His will or be saved, it is His desire, that all be saved and come into repentance, it is also His will that we be obedient and do His will, but it is still comes down to one thing, “US.” It comes down to us saying yes to His call and His request of us.
Understand that everything that we are involved in does have something to do with us. Our contribution or lack thereof is the thing that makes a situation what it is or is not. We have to understand if the kingdom of God is set up where it is about God’s Glory, but it is about our choices, our obedience, our contributions and our abilities, so is every other thing we undertake in life. I learned something last night at Bible study, Bishop I.V. Hilliard said everything God does in the natural He does in the spiritual or calls into being in the spiritual first. As with us, it starts with us, and it ends with our obedience and willingness to participate and be active doing the will of God and what He has called us to do, just as it is with everything we do it starts with you and it affects the whole! One is dependent upon the other, no matter who may say otherwise!
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