Chapel 9.17.08

Who is God? There are all sorts of answers to this question. We all live for God (or more specifically a god), even atheists. The question is not whether one lives for God, but who or what that God is. I really appreciated Dr. Swain's three questions to help define who I viewed as God. He developed his chapel message from II Cor. 5:14-15

14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

In verse 15 he explained how the love of Christ allows those who live to no longer live for themselves, but for Christ. What does it mean that they lived for themselves? Dr. Swain's three questions brought this question to light:
1. In whose strength do I rely on?
2. Whose rules do I follow?
3. Whose glory do I seek?
When I ran my life through the grid of those questions, I saw that in so many ways my god is me. In so many ways I live for myself.
This is a humbling thought.
It was really brought home later in the day during my Evangelism class. Dr. Childers had us look at three motives for evangelism. The first motive is that God commands us. It pretty simple, the Bible is very clear that we are to share Christ. The second motive is that we have a compassion for the lost. We need to have a broken heart for the lost and see them as God sees them. These first two motives are legitimate, but insufficient. The third motive is the most important. The third motive is zeal for God and His glory. That's when it clicked for me. I have zeal for a god and his glory.
In whose strength do I rely on - Me
Whose rules do I follow - Me
Whose glory do I seek - Me
My evangelism is weak because my motive is not a zeal for God and His glory, but a zeal for me and my glory. May I be controlled by Christ, that I may live no longer for myself but for him.
What about you? Who is your God? What motivates you to share your faith?