Some of you will remember an old country song in which the speaker tells his girlfriend, "Occasionally, I want to talk about me!" Oscar Wilde noted, "If there is anything in the world more annoying than having people talk about you, it is certainly having no one talk about you."
It's true; for many of us, our favorite topic is ourselves. Even when I pray, I find myself focusing on me---what I hope for, what I need, what I'm worried about. God in his mercy and goodness, gives me many things that I pray for, and I am grateful. But I've been looking recently at a prayer in scripture.
In First Samuel chapter two, we see Hannah's prayer of gratitude when she took little Samuel to the Temple. You might want to read the first ten verses of that chapter. It's all about how God manifests himself in our world. Verse two says, "There is none holy as the LORD because there is none beside thee." The next verse warns people, "Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is the God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed."
I plead guilty to thinking of myself too much, but I am praying for a re-focus. A few years ago, our theme for the school year was the question--also a song---"Will they love Jesus more?" This song has been on my mind today. The idea is to have my life so focused on Jesus that when people leave my presence, they will be thinking not of me, but of my LORD.
Matthew 5:16 encourages us to live in such a way that when people see our good works they will glorify not us, but God. Many of us are getting back to school or back into routines after a summer vacation. This is a good time to sharpen our focus and point people to Jesus.
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