I'm going to teach you a new word. You ready for it? Here it is...geocentrism. Any idea what it means? Years and years ago, people actually believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that EVERYTHING revolved around it. The reason they thought this was because they observed the movement of the sun, stars, moon and planets through the sky. As they studied this, they came to the conclusion that the earth must remain in a fixed position while all the other bodies moved. This was the widely held view until a few important people came along. A fella by the name of Copernicus was one of the first to challenge this idea. Since he was bucking all common knowledge at the time AND the religious establishment who saw the earth's geocentricity as theological, his thoughts went over like a bucket of bricks. Galileo was the first guy who was really able to give any concrete evidence to the new theory of a sun centered solar system though. He had a nice tool...a telescope...which he used to try and prove his point. Regardless of his evidence, however, he had a pretty tough time of it as well as the established academia of the day and the Catholic church let him have it for his beliefs.
Today, we are certain that the earth is not the center of the solar system. No one, other than a few fruit cakes out there, would claim that everything revolves around the earth. The whole reason I bring this up is though we are no longer geocentric folks (in other words we don't think the universe revolves around the earth), most of us ARE egocentric folks (in other words we think the world revolves around us)! All of us are born with a selfish streak in us. Just watch a bunch of two year olds playing together and you'll realize that selfish ambition is just something we're born with. No one teaches children to be selfish...they just are! Take my kids for example. If one has a toy, all of the others want it. It doesn't matter that they've already played with that toy till they're sick of it. If they see someone else enjoying it, they want it back! Why is this the case? Because we don't want anyone to have more happiness than us, and, for most of us, that means that we don't want anyone to have more ANYTHING than us! We're selfish. Now, as adults, this looks a little different. We don't just take things away from others...usually...but we do compete with them in a pretty bad way. We don't want our neighbors to have a better house than us. We don't want our friends to drive better cars than us. We don't want anyone to have a better job than us. We climb ladders, build bigger and better and buy more expensive all in an effort to outdo everyone else and have ALL the happiness for ourselves. And, if we sense that someone might be doing a little better than we are, we are JEALOUS! We have selfish ambitions. ALL of us. Even you! It's just part of our human nature. Selfish...Ambitions.
There was this one guy, however, who didn't have selfish ambitions. He didn't compete with those around him. In fact, he was pretty chill about climbing the ladder. He didn't try to gather a lot of followers (if he had had twitter, I'm sure he would have been following many more than were following him). He didn't really try to impress. He was just who he was. And...instead of being selfish, he was selfless. That's right, instead of demanding and taking, he surrendered and gave away! Yeah! This fella, Jesus, wasn't like the rest of us. In fact, in the greatest sacrificial act of giving in all of history he gave something that most of us spend our whole lives trying to hold on to...his life! Paul said this about him, "God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:8). That sounds pretty doggone selfless doesn't it? Yeah, Jesus was all about selfless affection!
Now, if that's where it all ended we could just say, "Oh, nice story!" and go on about our business, but that's not where it ends! For those who know Him personally, this Jesus is working to change them! You see, when someone gets to know Him, He connects His Spirit with theirs and He starts to do some radical stuff. Most of all, He starts the process of moving them from being self-centered, self-indulgent and self-serving little punks to being other-centered, self-denying, self-sacrificing little saints! It's a process...and for some it takes longer than others...but it happens! What He's up to is making us like Him. He's giving us a new nature...and with that new nature, selfless...affections!
Now, it's time for a little bit of honesty. You and I have both known people who claim to be "Christians", yet are still some of the most selfish people you'll come across. I'll be honest about this...I can't explain that. However, I DO KNOW one thing...when people really meet Jesus if affects them! Sooooo...if someone claims to know Jesus, but the pattern of their life is one marked by selfishness then you and I have good reason to wonder about the reality of said relationship. In fact, I believe that one of the biggest and most legitimate beefs that an unbelieving world has with "Christians" is the fact that so many of us are just so stinking self-centered. And, though an unbelieving world may not know Jesus, they know enough about Jesus to know that He wasn't like some of the folks they know who bear His name.
So, yeah, the earth is not the center of the solar system...and, guess what, you're not the center of the world! And, if you're a believer you definitely aren't the center of ANYTHING! And...that's really a good thing! Now, quit reading this and go make someone's day!
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