The "Me, Myself, and I" mentality

I recently received a newsletter from a pastor’s wife. The topic was ‘Me, Myself, and I’. Her husband had read an article about ‘Children’s Laws’ in an email about how they always have me, myself, or I connected to anything they do or say.

I went through this with my two children as they grew up. Our son was the oldest by almost 3 years. He had always been the center of attention, and every thing in sight was his, or so he thought. So, when his baby sister came along and got to the age she could sort of play with him, he took control. He took his place of authority; his mentality was, ‘every thing I have is mine – keep your hands off. And, every thing you have is mine – so give it to me.’ Often, we were stepping between the two because of this strong-willed child. He was never mean to her – just possessive of his/her things.

As little children, we learn to take control. We put our wants first, regardless of how it hurts someone else. Seldom do we find a child giving into another child until after a first encounter. Children have friends, but do not let a friend cross over the threshold of ‘my property’! The mentality is, “if I want you to play/hold/touch my things, I’ll let you know; otherwise, hands off!”

In our Christian walk, we sometimes treat God with this same mentality. You would have thought, through the years we would have learned a few lessons of ‘me, myself, and I’, and how it sometimes got us into trouble we could have otherwise avoided.

We all know the number one commandment from God: Matthew 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."

Do we love God with all our heart? Or, do we just think we do? Love should never cease. In other words, God should be in our heart and minds continually. But, we, as humans, constantly put ‘me, myself, or I’ before God with our actions. Christianity isn’t a religion, but a relationship with God. It should be our desire to always be in communication with God. But, as I said, we are humans, and we make mistakes. We get in a rush and the ‘me, myself, and I’ mentality gets hold of us and we decide we can ‘do it on our own volition.’

The POWER is all ours – after all, God gave us humans ‘free will’. But, when we leave Him out of our plans/our daily lives, we must accept the consequences of our actions. Sometimes those consequences are too hard to bear, and we have to come back to God – His Love is always there, whether we give him our full, undivided attention/love or not. I John 4:8 says that ‘God is love’. After all, He gave His only Begotten Son to die for all our sins. He knew that man would fail in his obedience to Him and His commandments. Jesus Christ became our advocate (I John 2:2) with the Father. The next time this mentality strikes you, remember God was never selfish. Think back to what He has done for us: He shared His Son with us, and He loves us. If we would develop His traits, just think what we could do for ourselves, our families, and for the world. Selfishness is not a trait that endears us to anyone, but having the spirit of love and compassion will.

Linked at Pursuing Holiness
Church and State
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Conservative Cat

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