Me First

IN EPHESIANS 5:21 PAUL WRITES, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” and then goes on to apply this to marriage. Our culture assumes that we enter marriage, primarily, to receive love but the Bible does not. Its perspective is that we should go into marriage for what we can give the other person. When two people put each other first a marriage can sing.

We should not forget, however, that the original command is, “Submit to one another…”, that is, submit to one another in the church. Put the desires of others ahead of your own. Consider the needs of others as more important than your own. Go to church for what you can give. And do it all because this best reflects a reverence for the good news in Jesus. That good news is, that though we are more wicked than we fathom we are more loved than we can imagine. In other words, we are no more to join or participate in a church body with a “me-first” mentality than we are a marriage.

The “me-first” mentality is the cancer of the church today. “My needs were not being met” or “I was offended” is often the reason people leave one church to join another. They divorce their church. Seldom do they consider that their own suffering and deprivation and putting unworthy people first is the lot of a Christ-like person. Those who are filled with the Spirit and therefore have a deep reverence for Christ, are most successful at doing this.