I have a problem: I really like to do what I want to do.

I think part of it has to do with the stage of life I’m in right now. I’m not a mommy, which means I don’t have to be thinking of someone else’s needs 24 hours a day. Sure, I’m a wife, but Robert can feed himself, take care of himself, and exist separately from me. So that leaves me with just me, and whatever it is I want to do.

That is why I so desperately need the Word of God every day, because it knocks me back down to reality. Life isn’t all about what I want; it can’t be! I gave up my desires when I decided to make Jesus my life (Galatians 2:20, 3:27). Still, it’s a constant battle between what my head knows from God’s word is right, and what my sinful old man wants to do anyway.

Surely I’m not alone.

So yesterday, as I was reading through my New Testament, I came across these words in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, which are normally split up by a man-made division (at least in my Bible and online). I like them together, so that’s how I’ll put them here:

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

I love these verses because they give me my life’s focus – an upward one.

God – the God who spoke light into existence – shines in my heart and gives me light. God – the Originator of light – gives it freely to me. That’s enough to puff someone up! Wow, the Almighty God of the Universe gave me light! How awesome am I?! That’s why I don’t like splitting the verses though, because verse 7 immediately enters the picture and puts my attitude in check: “the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us”.

God made light. God gave light. God made us. God gave light and treasure to us. Still, it’s all about God. Not us. God.

Our God is powerful. Our God is mighty. It is our high honor and privilege to be able to serve Him every day of our lives. But it isn’t an honor we should let go to our heads; an honor that we lord over other people by making ourselves out to be “holier-than-thou.” We are nothing but earthen vessels – clay pots to put it less fancifully. We are dirt. We are mildly gross. The value and worth that we possess is directly from God, which means we should praise Him, the Giver, and not ourselves, the lowly and underserving recipients.

I want to spend my life shining the light God put in me. I want my entire existence to be about pointing people to the One who made light and gives light and exudes power. But mostly, I want to get out of the way. I want to let go of pride and self and conceit. I want to let go of arrogance and my high horse. I want to truly be a servant of God, a slave to Jesus, looking not out for my own interests and desires, but always looking out for the interests of others (Phil. 2:4).

One verse prior to the ones we looked at is 2 Corinthians 4:5, where Paul says, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” May we all make this our life’s focus. Preaching Christ and being servants; shining God’s light and showing His power to everyone we come in contact with.