(This picture has nothing to do with this post.
I just thought, “Who can resist puppies!?”)
Auditing my Life
Thankfully, you’re not me. When I enter my prayer closet, quiet my thoughts, and turn my attention to Jesus, I begin doing an audit of how I’m living. The Holy Spirit comforts and encourages me, but I cannot deny the “I” of me.
“I” is Powerful
Grammatically, the first person singular pronoun is ‘I’ when it is the sentence’s subject. This places “I” in a powerful position within a sentence. Have you ever written a personal letter and, when completed, looked at the entirety of your message? How many paragraphs start with “I”?
How often do you write statements from your “I” perspective? When I do this assessment, it often saddens me. Hopefully, you focus on the intended recipient. I’ve practiced writing messages without any “I”, “me” or “my” and it’s difficult. As for me, the I’s in my messages and conversations are all too prevalent.
The “I” of Jesus
A while back, I wrote a post titled, “The ‘I’ of Jesus.” Here is an abbreviated version:
- “I am the gate for the sheep”
- “I am the good shepherd”
- “I know my sheep and my sheep know me”
- “I lay down my life for the sheep”
- “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen [Not the Jews in heathen lands, but Gentiles]”
- “I must bring them also.”
- “I have authority to lay it down [My life] and authority to take it up again.”
The “I” of Me
When considering the “I” of me, I find:
- Too often, I am more demanding of others than I am of myself. – “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10).”
- Too often, I play the role of the Levite rather than the good Samaritan. – “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him (Luke 10:33).”
- Too often, I choose what I will sacrifice rather than give what God asks. – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1).”
- Too often, I hold onto things which God has forgiven rather than receive the forgiveness He gave. – “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).”
It’s Good You’re Not Me
It’s good you are not me. For me, I must die, daily (Luke 9:23-24) for sin is always at my door (1 John 1:8). So, you may ask, what is the source of this pitiful “I” of me? When John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7), the Pharisees knew that the Scriptures associated the serpent with Satan in Genesis 3. So, John the Baptist implied that the Pharisees and Sadducees bore satanic qualities. And what was the sin of satan? The prophet Isaiah prophesied, regarding satan:
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; – Isaiah 14:13
The “I” of Me is Defeated
Satan’s “I will” is the root from which the sins of all humanity grow. And so the “I” of me comes from my old nature, rooted in the “prince of the air. (Ephesians 2:2)” Nevertheless, God has saved me, and it is by His presence that lives in me that the “I” of me is defeated (Ephesians 2:1-10). I pray the same for you!
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