It’s All About Me, Me, Me – But It’s Not.

Too much of my faith is about me.

Do you have that problem?

My faith. My life. My issues. My calling. My spiritual growth. As if the Bible was the original self-help book for extreme makeovers of the soul.

I think the disciples had the same problem I do.

At the end of Mark chapter 8, Jesus tries to tell His men, His followers, His disciples what lay ahead for Him. His Father’s plan.

So Peter (you’ve got to love, Peter), so Peter pulls Jesus aside and says something to Jesus like “OK, you need to stop talking all this suffering and death stuff. You’re scaring some of the brothers and it’s really not a very uplifting message. Can’t you go back to how we get to feed the crowds and maybe show us how you healed that blind guy with a handful of spit? That was pretty cool and the men were fired up after that but this stuff about rejection and death – I don’t know if you’re seeing what I’m seeing but these guys are freaking out a bit. It’s not very inspirational.”

Well, really we don’t know exactly what Peter said but whatever it was it got him rebuked by Jesus and told that he did not have his head in the game – not God’s game, not THE game.

I suppose that explains why, six days later, at the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus decides to take His three closest followers on a field trip up a high mountain with him. It is there, high on that mountain, that Jesus is transfigured before their eyes.

trans•fig•ure (tr ns-f g y r) tr.v. trans•fig•ured, trans•fig•ur•ing, trans•fig•ures
1. To alter the outward appearance of; transform.
2. To exalt or glorify.

Suddenly, it was all about Him, Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the Living One, the Son of God, the Light of the World, the Lamb of God, Messiah, Redeemer, Word, Ruler of Creation, Author and Perfecter of Our Faith, the Bread of Life, Deliverer, Faithful and True, the Lion of Judah.

For a moment, high on a mountain, Peter, James and John had their faith right and it was all about Jesus.

Then Peter (you’ve sooo got to love, Peter), then Peter does what I would do (what I do) – he opened his mouth, he babbled and then he looked for something he could do.

And God loved Peter and so He broke in then, coming in a cloud, and told Peter what to DO: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”

So, because I am just like Peter, on the days, which is most of the days, when my faith becomes all about me, I need to go up that mountain and I need to see Jesus. I need to hear God’s voice saying, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” And then, that’s what I need to do.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things are created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20