It's All About Me Anyways !

I know this is going to sound like I'm being a curmudgeon perhaps. Or maybe it sounds like I am a Joyce hater. But hear me out for a moment. I just visited the Joyce Meyer facebook page and saw this:

"A note from Joyce" ... If you ever feel lonely or rejected please remember that God loves you perfectly and unconditionally. As long as we believe in Jesus we are never judged, condemned or rejected (John 3:18)..."

You'll find that most (not all) of the popular teachers get people swarming around them because they make people feel better about themselves. You can take the scriptures that she used; "He that believes on him is not judged: but he that believes not has been already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God." - John 3:18

Now if I was to believe it meant what she was trying to make it sound like it means, I would rewrite it to say something like this: "God's number one purpose is 'you'. And because his number one purpose is you He has his only son crucified to pay the price for what you did wrong because 'you' are number one.". ... I am only slightly exaggerating.

If you are really absorbed in how you feel about yourself then it is likely that I've already lost you and you haven't read this far. But it's my hope to help people get away from this twisted teaching (no matter where it comes from) that how you feel about yourself is one of the most important things in the world. 

It's the 'me' generation that is so down on 'themselves' that they are attracted to anything that makes them feel better 'about themselves'. And how can you or I help being down on ourselves if we are going to try to rely on ourselves. I don't think either one of us could live up to all of our own expectations, let alone the expectations of someone else. So, if we need to feel good about ourselves then we are going to need to be constantly refilled with something to help us "feel better" because we will continually find ourselves disappointed.

But visit the scriptures sometime. And I'm not referring to just one or two verses. Visit all of them and ask yourself what kind of people were these? Especially the Christ followers in the first century ... What happened to them when Jesus' life intersected their life? What were 'they' focused on? You will find that they didn't get a message from God with it's principal point to make them feel better about themselves. You will find that they instead got a message that made them stand in awe and amazement at God. And let me tell you; when you are in awe and amazement, the last thing you are going to think about is 'you'. All of your senses are 'so' filled by the one that IS; that there is no room for you to think about you.

If this subject has peaked your interest at all I'd like to invite you to read more about how the enemy has twisted the concept, created a new word called "esteem", and fooled the masses into believing that God wants you to have more of it. Just follow this link and read an article that was written by a friend of mine over ten years ago.