It’s Not About Me
Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night” (Psalm 92:1)
We often look for what God can do for us. We complain to God and ask, “Why is this happening to me?” I’m speaking to believers. We do well to remember that we were at one time just like the rest of mankind. We were likewise children deserving of God’s wrath (see Ephesians 2:1-3).
Rather than ask, ”What’s in it for me?”, ask, “What’s in it for God?”. What a radical thought and way to live!
It is indeed a good thing to thank God. The goodness of giving thanks to God is one of the extreme understatements in the Scriptures. Yet though it is generally affirmed, it is rarely understood. Oh, we say prayers of thanksgiving for various things, but to look to God and know that He is the giver of everything is rare. James wrote, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17a).
The superscription for Psalm 92 declares it to be a “Song for the Sabbath”. The Sabbath was the day set apart to God. The New Testament believers set apart the first day of the week to the Lord Jesus because He was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. The Sabbath was and continues to be an act of devotion and commitment by those who profess faith. We gather to affirm that this day testifies that it’s not about me. All life is by and for God.
Psalm 92:1 is often used on the Lord’s Day precisely because it directs all attention to the LORD, as is appropriate for Sunday Worship.
That everything is for God continues to be a humbling realization for me. I am not the center of life. This principle confronts all mankind even though it is suppressed in unrighteousness (see Romans 1:18). Life is not about us. All that God created is about Him. “All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16b).
Therefore, the psalmist said, “It is good to give thanks to the LORD.” He affirmed that there is no higher object to whom thanks can or should be given. We rightly thank others but forget that God is the ultimate source of everything good. He has chosen to work through second causes, that is, often other men and women. God is the ultimate source of every good and every perfect gift.
We all know this. Yet at the first sign of difficulty, we focus attention on ourselves. We become introspective and sometimes spiral into despair. So long as the Lord tarries in coming back, there will be tribulation. Adversity will tend to challenge our security and hope in Christ. Our sinfulness will lead us to change our focus from God to us. Even during times of great prosperity, we will be tempted to look inward rather than upward toward God. The battle is constant. Our hope of victory rests only upon the sovereign Lord Jesus.
The Apostle Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that every Christian will be engaged in a spiritual battle. We will be regularly challenged to lose hope and doubt God’s word. Paul’s exhortation to the believer is to, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His power” (Ephesians 6:10).
So then, Christian, beware that you are not immune from worldliness and self-centeredness. There is a biblical remedy. It is God’s gift of repentance. God’s remedy is the only lasting one. God said, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Thanking God begins with acknowledging that we are self-centered. We are sinners in His sight. May your acknowledgment lead to a deep sorrow for your sin. May that deep sorrow, a godly sorrow, lead you to turn from your sin of self-centeredness, and exercise God’s other gift, namely faith in Him.
Just as saving faith is a continuing reliance upon the person and work of Christ, repentance is an ongoing turning from sin. Christians live penitently. We confess our sins and turn to Jesus with the assurance that God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness. Therefore, for all those who possess genuine repentance and faith follow the psalmist’s exhortation. “Give thanks to the LORD.” Life is all about Him.
