What About Me!

Thursday mornings (early mornings) are reserved for exercise. For the past two years a band of up to six people has taken to the road for a brisk walk or run each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So the alarm went off at 4:30 and my wife and I sprang from the bed.

I used to hit the snooze but that is dangerous. Do you know that you can hit the snooze button for over an hour? Years ago I discovered this. It may not be the same for all alarm clocks but this is what happened on the one I had. The alarm went off at 6:00. I hit the snooze. It went off at 6:09. I hit the snooze. every nine minutes for 63 minutes the alarm went off and I hit the snooze. After the eighth time (it was 7:03 now) I hit the snooze and waited nine minutes. Of course, I couldn't sleep after all that activity over the last hour. I waited and waited but the alarm never sounded. My clock gave up on me. I guess it had a right to.

But this morning, we jumped from the bed and started the ritual of checking the weather app so we'd know how many layers to put on, then dressing appropriately, then getting a swig of water, then heading out to meet the rest of the group.

What was different about this morning was that we have a guest in our house. He spoke in our church last night and occupied the guest room. Like the wonderful hosts we are, we invited him to get up at 4:30 and walk with us.

Actually, Deana and I had already told the rest of the group we would not be there this morning because of our guest. So we had nothing to do with inviting him to get up much earlier than he was accustomed. I won't name names, but they know who they are!

We walked 2.5 miles and about 2 miles in, Forrest (our leader) asked Jesse (our guest) how he was doing. Forrest had asked once before just to make sure we weren't killing our guest. Jesse's in good shape so he was good.

But I couldn't stand it. "What about me!" I asked. Doesn't anyone care about me? I'm in the worst shape of any of us, so what about me!

Forrest understood and laughed out loud. He and I talk a lot while we walk. Sometimes the spiritual and intellectual aspect of the walks are more beneficial than the physical.

Have you noticed how people are so selfish these days? A team wins the National Championship and a player has to beat down the very institution that is handing out the trophy. A teams earns the right to play in the Super Bowl and a player has to rant about how much better he is than anyone else. A woman gets caught on video hitting another person and says she didn't do it. People stand in line demanding "Where's mine?"

It's as if we all think everyone else owes us something...and we owe nothing to anyone.

Our Sunday Night Bible Study last week focused on 2 Chronicles 7:14 - "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

We talked about steps to revival. Humility is necessary to be right with God. Instead, we seem to be full of pride. Pride takes root and we no longer praise the Lord and love our neighbor. Pride gets right up in the middle of whatever is going on and says, "What about me!" God will not bless those who are proud but he will hear and forgive and heal those who are humble.

How do we get from pride to humility? What is the pathway? It is service. Jesus is the great example of this. In Philippians 2 Paul tells us that Jesus was very humble, demonstrated by his incarnation and earthly ministry. Jesus is the Son of God but he didn't think he was too good to die for our sins.

I can't imagine this scene in heaven. The Triune God is discussing the plan to save lost humanity. The Father might have said, "Son, you will become a man and live among them. You will die for their sins so they can have eternal life." Then Jesus said, "That sounds good for them but what about me!"

No, I can't imagine that. Instead, Jesus humbly took on flesh, bore the cross, and died for our sins.

Just hours before his death, Jesus demonstrated what love and humility look like. He washed his disciples' feet. That was a task reserved for a household servant but the King of Glory did it. The pathway from pride to humility is service.

I need to serve others more and cry out "What about me!" less. Do you?