I went and listened to Larry Crabb Friday night. I always enjoy hearing him speak. He is always honest and vulnerable. He doesn't put on airs like he has it all together. He readily admits to being a mess.
Mostly, I am struck by how his honesty and willingness to admit to his humanness, somehow leads me to an encounter with God's grace.
All of the teaching was good, but one simple comparison between being self obsessed and God obsessed stood out.
Self Obsession--------------------------------------------God Obsession
1. Personal suffering is our greatest enemy.-----------1. Personal suffering is our friend.
2. Life going well is our source of joy.-------------------2. Life going well is dangerous
3. Felt desire is our surest guide of what to do.--------3. Only desire for God's glory, informed by
scripture, is a reliable guide.
Why is life going well dangerous you may ask? Because our life going well can become our God. We can get consumed by wanting good stuff happening in life. Is it wrong to want your kids to be godly? Is it wrong to want to be able to pay your bills and more? Is it wrong to want to be closer to your spouse?
The answer is no unless you have begun to define 'life' and spirituality by those things. Have they become more important to you than your relationship with God?
Larry quotes C.S. Lewis,
Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose both first and second things.
The only first thing is relationship with God. Abiding in God and allowing him to transform you. Second things are everything else including ministry of any kind. Lot's of wonderful blessings fall under the category of second things. But if we make our lives about the blessings we lose out on the first thing of a deepening relationship with God.
So, Larry says...
The central battle is to put first things first.
The central evil is to put second things first.
The central deception is to think we're putting first things first when we aren't.
The bad news is we'll all struggle with putting second things first for the rest of our lives. The good news is we have a God who lavishly offers grace to his children.
