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Before I knew Jesus and his character, I thought the kind of worship he demanded was like what I saw on an old Popeye cartoon. The evil dictator demanded submission from his subjects. He was so insecure that Popeye and the others had to kneel before the despot and were forced to say he was great.

The real Jesus is the absolute opposite of that. Jesus doesn’t demand that I tell him he is great because of insecurities. The real Jesus doesn’t demand. He simply loves me with all that he is and I come to know that he willingly took my punishment because he wanted to be with me forever. I come to realize that he is good, his plans are to benefit me, he is completely secure, and I come to love who He is. Knowing Him is freedom. With my sin gone I am free to receive His love and give it back to Him and others. Then His joy of loving and being loved is experienced by me as I know His joy of receiving and giving His love. Worship then is not forced but rather a natural response of appreciation for His character. I say to Him, because I want to say to Him, thank you for having the character of love, humility, sacrifice, and service for me and everyone else.

I do not cringe in fear before Him but can genuinely say to Him, “My Daddy!”

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22:07).

This is not God’s design.

God gives us more than we need so that we can be a servant to those in need. The idea is not to amass money in order to loan to those who lack it to get even more money through interest and repayment. The idea is to seek out who you can help with education, encouragement AND finances and serve them until they are strong enough to give to others themselves. When you prove yourself trustworthy in a little, God will entrust you with more. Not to spend on your pleasures, but to serve more and bring more joy (Jesus) into the world.

When I was little I didn’t want help doing new things. I wanted to do it myself; to impress others with how much I already knew. Of course, as a little kid I couldn’t do much, life kept teaching me that. I, however, chose not to listen to life. I was going to do life my way, even if it killed me. And it almost did.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed (Proverbs 15:22).

After losing my “self” while growing up; because I denied authenticity to gain perceived acceptance, I lost my freedom and my “mind” for ten years because I rebelled against the truth God told me about myself (that I am vile, evil and depraved). Now, twenty-eight years after accepting Jesus and over fifty years since I began trying to impress the world with what I know, I realize that I know only a small part of what I need to know. And others, whether they know it or not, have a valuable contribution to make in my life and I in theirs (if we will let each other). John Maxwell said, “One is too small a number for greatness.” We are complementary. We are synergistic. Together we are greater than what we are individually. And what we still lack together, God will supply, if we ask him.

To “grow” I must become “smaller” in order to have room for the greatness God pours through others.