Good morning…
The Results of an I-Centered Life is the title of Rick Warren’s devotional message from October 28th, 2020.
“When ‘I’ am at the center of everything in my life, that’s sin,” writes Rick. “We all have an ‘I’ problem: I want it my way; I will do my thing; I have to take care of myself first; I don’t have time for others; I am the most important thing.”
“Growing up, my dad taught me the danger of I-focused living by pointing out that the middle letter of sin is ‘I,'” explains Warren. “At the root of sin is self-centeredness, and the middle letter of ‘pride’ just also happens to be ‘I.’ Where else does this apply?”
“All ‘crime’ is self-centered,” notices Rick. “A lot of social problems in the world today are caused by three groups with ‘I’ at the center: racists, sexists, and chauvinists. All of these work off the philosophy ‘I am better than you.'”
“What other I-centered sins happen when you start living a self-focused life?” Warren wonders aloud. “You start to ‘whine’ and ‘criticize.’ You turn ‘envious,’ ‘deceitful,’ ‘defiant,’ and ‘merciless.’ – because you want grace for yourself, but not for others.”
“What are the results of self-focused living?” he asks himself. “Guilt, fatigue, pessimism, hostility, and emptiness – all with ‘I’ at the center.”
“What is the only antidote to an I-focused life?” Rick wonders for all of us. “You have to change your focus. You were made by God and for God. And you will only find peace and purpose when you focus your life on him,” Warren concludes.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you; all whose thoughts are fixed on you (Isaiah 26:3, NLT).
After pondering Rick’s wisdom, another word dawns on me: “die” has ‘I’ at the center.
As we “die” to the I-Centered life, God’s peace and God’s purpose permeate our everyday lives. We drop our “I” to become a powerful “we.” We “welcome.” We “weep” with. We live in “awe.”
…Sue…
P.S. Thank you Corinne Adams for this symbolic image of our “I-Centeredness” dying to welcome God’s peaceful, purposeful, awe-inspiring “we.”
