Someone asked a great question after our church’s worship gathering on Sunday. It was basically this: how can I tell if I'm following Jesus for selfish reasons? How can I be sure I am a Christian for genuine, authentic reasons and not just doing it to get something out of it? Is it selfish to choose to follow Jesus?
As we seek to be a healthy church in Chorlton, we gladly welcome questions and even have space for questions at our Sunday worship gatherings.
This is a great question and I thought I'd include my response in here. And let’s begin by recognising that none of us have pure motives, we will always be mixed. During the course of our life, that might ebb and flow as well. God knows this better than we do, and He still wants us to come to Him.
A way to frame this good question is through the lens of a relationship. God isn’t a project or a set of beliefs, He’s a Person. The Christian life is one that changes as time goes by, much as a relationship does. Healthy change is called growth.
Using that reality of a relationship, a metaphor for the Christian life is one of a good, healthy relationship. In these kind of relationships, we should get something out of (assuming it’s a good relationship). But that’s also not the only reason we’re in that relationship. But just because we do get something out of it doesn’t have to mean we’re selfish, even if we have selfish tendencies. It’s just like any friendship. If you are in a good friendship, you will get something out of it. But that’s a product of the relationship, not a reason.
That said, there are some questions we could ask ourselves to get an idea of where we are with this. We will hopefully be growing in our relationship with God over time, and part of that growth is from being more selfish to less selfish. This is also best done in a trusted and honest community, as we often aren’t reliable narrators of our own lives.
am I listening to God regularly? The Bible is a collection of God’s words to us, it’s good to have Him speak!
am I speaking to God regularly through prayer?
am I present with others in my missional community? Christianity is not an individual thing.
am I present with others on Sunday?
am I generous in my time, talents, money?
am I praying for others? Praying for others to know Jesus?
am I present with people who don’t know Jesus yet?
am I serving and loving them through my actions?
am I serving and loving them through talking about Jesus with them?
A life of mission requires us to live in an others-orientated way, that can often be a good indicator.
In all of this, we probably find ourselves a bit more selfish than we generally thought. This is why repentance isn’t just a one time or periodic act, it’s a way of life. A life of repentance means growing in this over time.
And the great news is that God calls all of us to come to Him. Those of us with self-obsessed, selfish hearts. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit over time that untangles our hearts from only being about ourselves and frees us to be about Him. This is one of the reasons Jesus died! So if you’re feeling selfish, bring that to the cross, thank Jesus that He’s killed that selfishness, and ask the Holy Spirit to continue His work. I, for one, and thankful that God never gives up on us!