Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain . Psalm 119:36 NIV
All of us have wants. I want a new car. I want a new job. Our wants become needs.
I want this and I gotta have it. The root of every person is selfishness. I am selfish. You are selfish. It’s in every one of us. Our selfish nature is sin.
We bring our selfishness even into the church. We make it about our needs. I need this kind of music, or that kind of teaching. We miss the fact that the Church exists for its non-members. The only membership that exists for the outsiders. The Church is the body of Christ followers. We are not talking about a building but about the Believers.
God will use us as followers to meet the needs of those around us: Uber drivers, neighbors, co-workers, and grocery store clerks. The church will never be about you and me but about the outsiders. If we live selfishly, we will never meet the needs or do the work God intended for us.
The writer of Psalm 119 had it right. He writes a prayer to God asking for the heart to be turned toward God’s statutes or laws and away from selfish gain. We are no different today. Will you submit a prayer to God asking Him to help you be others focused, maybe something like this one:
Pray:
Dear God, You will use Your people to reach others and meet their needs. I want to be someone You will use. Help me to focus less on myself and my comforts, needs and wants. Change my heart and make it more like Yours. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.