Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 8:45 a.m. – Last evening I was on my computer checking and responding to e-mails, reading the news, checking for and reading new articles on Christian websites, and then I got on www.Facebook.com. My kids and/or their spouses are on there, and one of them invited me to join awhile ago. I don’t frequent there very often, but every now and then I get on there to see what is going on.
So, I was reading what people have written and I decided to participate in two “games” – don’t know what else to call them – where someone writes questions with their own answers about themselves and then you are supposed to copy and paste their questions but with your own answers about yourself. This has often been done via e-mail, but now it is done on the “Notes” section of Facebook.
I finished completing my answers to two groups of questions, all of which were about myself or my thoughts or answers to the questions, and then I began searching through more of my friend’s profiles to see what was going on with them when this song came into my head:
Much of You / Steven Curtis Chapman
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/steven_curtis_chapman/much_of_you.html
How could I stand here
And watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains
Where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness
And the depths of the sea
And think for a moment
The point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper
And You are the thunder
And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior
This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You
For all eternity
I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You
So, I immediately turned off Facebook on my computer and I began talking with the Lord about the words to this song and how he wants to apply them to my life. Then, this morning, when I awoke, this same song was in my head. What was standing out to me was that, though there is nothing inheritantly wrong with playing such “games,” the point of what I believe the Lord was saying to me specifically was that in doing so, I was making much of me, but what he has called me to do is to make much of him – to give him my life and for him to take it and let it be used to make much of Jesus, his love, his mercy and his cross.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read I Corinthians 8:
Food Sacrificed to Idols
1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But the man who loves God is known by God.
4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
My Understanding: Wow! I believe the Lord is telling me that, for me, getting on Facebook and playing the “games” that others play on there is like me exercising my freedom by eating in an idol’s temple. I have the freedom to do this, but by doing it, the exercise of my freedom could actually be a stumbling block to a weaker brother or sister. How so? For me, this is a rare occasion that I do this, but for a weaker brother or sister, he or she could get engrossed in this and could thus be distracted from his or her relationship and/or service to the Lord. And, I don’t want that to happen. So, Lord, grant me discernment in this matter, I pray in Jesus’ name.
So, I was reading what people have written and I decided to participate in two “games” – don’t know what else to call them – where someone writes questions with their own answers about themselves and then you are supposed to copy and paste their questions but with your own answers about yourself. This has often been done via e-mail, but now it is done on the “Notes” section of Facebook.
I finished completing my answers to two groups of questions, all of which were about myself or my thoughts or answers to the questions, and then I began searching through more of my friend’s profiles to see what was going on with them when this song came into my head:
Much of You / Steven Curtis Chapman
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/steven_curtis_chapman/much_of_you.html
How could I stand here
And watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains
Where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness
And the depths of the sea
And think for a moment
The point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper
And You are the thunder
And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior
This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You
For all eternity
I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You
So, I immediately turned off Facebook on my computer and I began talking with the Lord about the words to this song and how he wants to apply them to my life. Then, this morning, when I awoke, this same song was in my head. What was standing out to me was that, though there is nothing inheritantly wrong with playing such “games,” the point of what I believe the Lord was saying to me specifically was that in doing so, I was making much of me, but what he has called me to do is to make much of him – to give him my life and for him to take it and let it be used to make much of Jesus, his love, his mercy and his cross.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read I Corinthians 8:
Food Sacrificed to Idols
1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But the man who loves God is known by God.
4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
My Understanding: Wow! I believe the Lord is telling me that, for me, getting on Facebook and playing the “games” that others play on there is like me exercising my freedom by eating in an idol’s temple. I have the freedom to do this, but by doing it, the exercise of my freedom could actually be a stumbling block to a weaker brother or sister. How so? For me, this is a rare occasion that I do this, but for a weaker brother or sister, he or she could get engrossed in this and could thus be distracted from his or her relationship and/or service to the Lord. And, I don’t want that to happen. So, Lord, grant me discernment in this matter, I pray in Jesus’ name.
