selfless...

It's Sunday morning, 6:47a.m. as I begin typing... the rare occasion of having a 10 or 15 minute surplus before I leave for church is at hand, and I thought I'd take advantage by putting some of my thoughts down here. We're rapidly approaching the day on which we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the words we sang last night--and will again this morning--are resonating in my mind... "It's all about You, Jesus..."

This has become a staple among the myriad of "worship phrases" that we worship leaders, songwriters and pastors will draw from when appropriate--but it struck me differently for the first time last night. The wonder of God has many layers, and perhaps I stumbled onto one I've never really encountered before last night--at least not in this way. See, I've been spending the last several years being cognizant in my writing and in my leading of pointing to Christ and only to Christ--"It's all about You, Jesus... it's not about me, God, it's all about You..." That really must be the heart of our worship to Him, but as I was bathing in that thought last night in a moment of worship, it struck me that the selfless God we serve suffered through Calvary, died a glorious death on the cross, and rose from the dead all for... us. It's not that I'd never come to that realization before, don't get me wrong. Salvation only exists inside that reality. But it's almost as if the God of all creation was singing back to me last night--not worshiping me at all--but rather a musical whisper... a message from the cross: "It's all about you... that's why I did all of this..."

Wow. The gift of baby Jesus in the manger, humbly entering a world which wouldn't accept Him. The miracles, the parables, the scriptures left behind. The death, the resurrection--all that we celebrate in this season and throughout the year--was God selflessly making it all about us... little, pathetic, sinful, undeserving souls like mine. I don't know about you, but that makes it even easier for me to give every effort to make my worship all about Him.