second place

i was watching a re-run episode of "third watch" (a favourite show of mine) on a&e this morning before work and the main story line was that of a new paramedic trying to learn how other paramedics, policemen and firemen were able to posess compassion for others. what got me thinking was when the new paramedic's mentor looked at him (fed up with his insistent questions on how he could be compassionate) and said (and i paraphrase here): "you wanna know how to have compassion? look at you- you've used the word "me" 6 times in the last 5 seconds! try putting yourself second for awhile and see what happens. it's not about you. stop making being compassionate about you!"
if you don't think God uses tv to get a point across, you're mistaken. very mistaken. it really isn't about me and thats something biblical to read into.
browsing the latest headlines on wired.com today, i ran into an article about a facebook movement in cairo, egypt. did you know that it's illegal to hold a meeting of more than 5 people without a permit in egypt? i sure didn't. this year, a regular guy with a wife and child named ahmed maher didn't view this as an obstacle in his web based protest of his nation's opressive government. he facing arrest and worse, he started a movement called "april 6th youth" that at one time had up to and over 40,000 online supporters. arrested and beaten at least 2 times he still is fighting for an end to the injustice in his land. this article ( found at http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-11/ff_facebookegypt?currentPage=1 ) only served to play into today's theme: it's not about me.
my pastor, pastor ken hitte, is preaching from ephesians this month and he suggested we read the second chapter this week. guess what verse i found? ephesians 2:8-10. "for by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God has prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
think about it. what paul is saying here is that there are two distinct "works" here. what we do on our own and what God has planned for us to do. our works will not do any good for us! the works that we do through God have been planned and purposed before we were even born. how much is it not about me? My own works will not get me into heaven- only what i do through God's will. and the things i do through God are not for me or about me because i am His workmanship already created to worship. love and serve Him. as his workmanship it should be second nature to put myself second and God in first place in my life. with all these reminders i've run into today, im going to say that second place isn't a bad place to be. besides, i have a pregnant wife so im already learning another side to the meaning of "second place"! but that's for another post...