It’s not for you…
I choose restaurants because I like them. I make purchases because I need them. Or at least want them. I have conversations because I am curious, or interested, or bored, or lonely. And you probably do, too.
I think I’ve found the anti-Christ. It was easier than I expected. All I had to do was consider what the opposite of Christ Jesus would be.
Everything Jesus did, He did for someone else. I know that we like wrestle with the idea of all three Persons of the Trinity doing things ‘for His own glory…’ but that doesn’t mean He does everything selfishly for Himself. Although He could. Instead it means that He does everything FOR His beloved, with the goal and result that He is glorified.
But every single thing that Jesus thought, said, and did was for someone else. He said it Himself when He declared that as our Shepherd, He “came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10 ESV)
So what is the opposite of that? Doing everything for one’s own self.
The opposite of Christ is doing things for myself.
Wow.
Self-help, Psycho-babble, ‘my rights,’ and the Modern American Way all push us to do things for me. Almost every reason for romance presented by Hollywood is to find happiness. Almost every reason given by guidance counselors to choose a career is to find contentment. Almost every reason given by most of our advisors is to find self-satisfaction.
And all of that is the opposite of what Christ displays.
Life… it’s not for you.