The "Not I" Religion

 "But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves."  Romans 15:1

I've been rereading Hannah Whitall Smith this year.  She writes about the "I" religion that too many Christians subscribe to.  She writes, "Sooner or later the child of God who knows the embrace of the Father's love comes to the place of insight where thoughts of self vanish in the wondrous revelation of the heart of God." 

But she says focusing on ourselves is not lost all at once.  To illustrate what she means she refers to the Prodigal Son.  He had been a good son and faithful in his service to his father, but when his wayward brother returned and his father celebrated, the brother who had stayed home only thought about himself.  He became resentful and would not rejoice with his father.

Hannah says the "not I" religion, "forgets self in its absorption in God.  It expects nothing from self but everything from God; it demands nothing for self but seeks to lavish all on the Lord; it learns to recognize in God the same blessed attributes and begins to have an insight into His heart of self-forgetting love and tenderness.  It pours out its most precious gifts as a love offering to its Lord and asks for no return, but it receives most abundant and unexpected measure."

At the same time I've been reading devotions that deal with worry.  It became very clear to me that when I worry about my children, for instance, I am not only not trusting them to God, I am practicing "I" religion.  My worry is really about myself and my fears.  Yes, I'm concerned for my children, but if I'm trusting God then I know whatever difficulty they may face will be used by God for their good.  My Self doesn't like feeling uncomfortable in any way.  We'd lock our kids in the closet if it meant they'd be safe, right?!  But we all know that isn't how life is meant to be lived.  It isn't all about ME. 

Pleasing ourselves shows up in many forms, unfortunately, so we aren't always aware we are practicing "I" religion.   Try these on for size:  impatience, irritation, judging, laziness, insisting on your rights, always needing to be "right"...... you get the picture.  "Not I" religion, on the other hand, fulfills the law of Christ:  "suffereth long, and is kind"; "envieth not"; "vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up"; "seeketh not [its] own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil"; "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."  This, of course, is the love passage in First Corinthians 13:4-7.

What it comes down to is this:  Am I a blessing? Or am I always seeking to be blessed?  By being a blessing, we will be blessed in return because we will have entered into our Lord's Joy.

Father, thank you for helping me clarify where my faith is weak so that I may be a blessing to You and others.

Link to Scripture:  1 Corinthians 13

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