It's not about me

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." [Jn 14:6]

Studying this passage this week, an unexpected teaching was given to me.  The evangelical message in John 14 is profound.  Jesus is the one and only Messiah, the Savior beside Whom there is no other.  Apart from Him there is no way for man to deal with his guilt, no way back to our Father in heaven, no life in this sad world of frustrations, and no truth that can satisfy our longing souls.

This is the message to the seeking soul who is not born again.  It is the message to the young Christian struggling to get into the new life in Christ.  It is the evangelistic message to the intellectual who thinks he or she can fathom God and THEN have faith:  Jesus is Himself truth.  Knowledge of good and evil, philosophy, history, art or science will never save anyone. Even full mastery of theology cannot satisfy a soul if he has no personal relationship with The Lord.

But another message has hit me, completely unsought. It is this: By his use of  I and me in John 14:6, Jesus made the work of salvation, that is, coming to the Father, all about HIM. The work of God is all about Jesus.  We don't come to the Father through The Church or the sacraments or the knowledge we attain about God, but through the Person of Jesus Christ.  And as evangelists, we do not bring people to God nor save them.  We simply bring them the Good News, through which they may believe and know Jesus, and through Him, be saved.

Perhaps the corollary of this is what most helped me:  It is not about me. I have often been cowardly, unfruitful and unhappy because I never learned that simple phrase, "It's not about me."  Perhaps this is the most common cause of that affliction Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones described as "spiritual depression", which leads to the anomaly he called "the miserable Christian".

I've been suffering spiritual depression for at least 10 years, and didn't see it. 

But yesterday as I was about to go out for some one-on-one evangelism, I found my thoughts all swirling about me and discouraging me.  It looked hopeless.  Frustration seemed inevitable.  My hopes and dreams of evangelizing one campus had borne only a few good results, but no great harvest.  So as usual, I was becoming depressed before even getting out of my car.  Somehow at just that moment, as I prayed for help, the Spirit said simply, "Christopher, this is not about you, it's about Jesus."

And the chains of ego were at that moment loosed and fell away.  Evangelism was a joy again, and whether the response of the students was up or down, I was steady.  Yes, I had to keep reminding myself, "This is not about me."  Giant Despair is always there trying to storm back into the house swept clean. But one little word felled him:  I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.

Indeed, Jesus' focus on "I" was appropriate. HE is the Savior. He is the one who counts in Christianity.  He is our God, not merely "a great teacher".  He did not come to help us become "self-aware", but that we might know God personally.  It is all about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And it is emphatically NOT about us.

But I fear that, as I have gone on 10 years in this habitual loop of negative feedback of discouragement, the entire Western Church is suffering the same.  We are so affected by the god of this age, Nike, the god of success, that even we Christians cannot break free of the frustration of serving such a false god.  Success is not what Jesus our Lord promised, but suffering, rejection like unto His own.  Until we understand and embrace that it is about HIM, NOT US, like Peter we deny our Lord again and again, live in frustration, and are spiritually depressed.

This is not what our Lord wants for us.  He Who is The Life promised us "life more abundant" [Jn 10:10].  He is the Good Shepherd who would have us follow HIM, and who appoints us to be under-shepherds for HIM.  Again, it is all for Him.  If we are fruitful or not, successful or not, eloquent or stammering, free to literally fly from place to place or tied up lying on our left side (as was Ezekiel), we are not discouraged because it is all about Him and making Him known and for His glory.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But unto thy name be glory, O Lord!

The me-syndrome has plagued us long enough. It is time to throw it off and cure it.  There is just one simple way:  It's not about me.  Let this simple mantra rid us of the selfish thinking that leads to depression and frustration, and instead make known abroad His Name.  This is liberation, to truly feel and believe as John the Baptist:

"He must become greater, and I must become less."

May God reawaken the evangelistic zeal of His church as we embrace this simple and liberating attitude of Christ-centered focus.