Jesus Told Me To Get Over Myself

What Did Jesus Do?

“Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.”
Romans 12:3

As the Lord and I were talking this morning, as in I was praying, he asked me a question, “Tell me, Jim, if you’re all that, what does it make me?” Ouch! Jesus was telling me, in so many words, to get over myself, or my self.

I mean, if Christ is all (And he is), then there is not any room left for me to be much of anything except by being a part of him. Sorry, Frank, but the last thing “I gotta be” is, uh, me. That is, if I would be His disciple. And, let’s face it, Jesus was about as straight with us as he could be, “If anyone would come after me,” that would be come after as in pursue with the ardent and exclusive passion of someone head over heals in love, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Anything less than this is not discipleship, because it betrays divided loves, as in love for the world, the things of the world, or, most dangerous of all, love of myself.

Among other things this means I need to be less concerned with what I think of myself, and with what others may think of me. What matters is what He thinks. You see, I can’t fool him like I can fool myself or others. He is the one who has searched me and known me (Psalm 139:1); he is the one who formed my inward parts, who knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). And, this is the really amazing part, having searched me and known me, he determined that I was worth dying for! Truly, I have no life apart from him.

Today, as we, that is, he and I, were talking, the conversation came to a place where I asked him, “Jesus, I think I need to be less self-conscious and more Christ conscious, don’t I?” And he replied, “You have said so.” I believe he was showing me the last, great obstacle to freedom—the tyranny of the self. Forgetting about self, and knowing only Jesus, who is the truth, well it does exactly what the truth is supposed to do, it sets us free.

So, confessing that I’m not all that, but that he is my all in all, and with a lot of help from my Friend, I am going to seriously get over myself. Please feel free to call me out when it’s necessary. Just say, “Jim, you better take a quick look in the mirror, I think your self is showing.”

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenminstries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4