The Kitchen Table: I Always Wanted To Be Free

I ran into a little bit of trouble when sitting down to write this blog, because I wasn’t sure what to write about? This morning I thought I had a clear cut idea of what I would write, but as the day progressed I realized that topic didn’t really pertain to my life right now. Then I listened to one of my favorite songs and I realized exactly what this blog needed to be about.

I always wanted to be free
'Til I was bound and then
I always wanted my own way
'Til I saw that I find my life when
I lose His

I used to think that me, myself, and I were all that mattered
But You've shown me all this world can give
Cannot compare to the joy that comes from
Giving away

You make me come alive
You make me come alive
I found the secret
It's only when I let go of what I want in this life
You make me come alive

These are a few of the lyrics to the song, “Alive” by Rebecca St. James. One of the many reasons that I love this song is because she talks about that moment when she realized how important God was, once she took a moment to stop thinking about herself. As creatures born with a sin nature, we are basically selfish and only care about what is best for ourselves in the long run. When I’m around my friends and we’re having a conversation, I constantly found myself thinking “Wow, this person is really hogging the conversation.” “Would you please stop talking about yourself?” Until I realized that I was doing the exact same thing. I’m one of those people who tend to get really annoyed when I’m talking and no one is listening, and that’s really selfish of me. Maybe they’ve got more important things to worry about, or maybe I’ve been hogging the conversation and their bored listening to me? But that doesn’t matter to me because what I am saying is important in my eyes. Does this sound familiar to any of you?

You may not have even noticed, but maybe you’ve been a little selfish lately. I’m kind of being selfish right now because my mom really needs me to write this blog and I don’t feel like doing it…sorry. LOL!! But, back to the point. Philippians 2:3 says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Now it says, we are to consider others better than ourselves….I’m sure that this sounds like a lot of fun to you right? No? REALLY? Okay, I agree, it doesn’t exactly sound like the most fun thing any of us would just like to do. The question would have to come to mind, “What can I do for me if I have to think about other people? That’s not fair!” But something that I’m beginning to notice is that, I feel a lot happier with myself when I am more concentrated on other people, and not my own selfish needs. God wants us to put others before ourselves, and to spend less time thinking about how to benefit me, myself, and I. Are you ready to do that? I’m not saying it is easy, but if Paul tells us not to be “selfish” then it’s something we should work at not being.

I hope that this blog was a little piece of encouragement for you to really take a look at yourself and, in turn, see if you are putting others before yourself…. All this world can give, Cannot compare to the joy that comes from, Giving away.