One of the things we’ve been hearing a lot of in Christendom for a while now is something along the lines of “It’s not about us; It’s all about you” or “It’s all about Jesus.” These phrases are very true, in a certain context, particularly in worship. What kind of worship would it be if our worship was about us? What kind of wife would be said to love her husband, if her way of loving was all about her?
But that’s not to say that *everything* in the heart of God is all about Jesus. For instance, take “thanksgiving.” Just the word itself implies that we have to stop and recognise that somebody did something **for us**. You can’t really be thankful for something that isn’t about you. If it wasn’t done for egalitarian reasons, it becomes difficult to be thankful. Yet we are called to “come into His presence with Thanksiving in our hearts,” and also to “forget not all of His benefits.” Doesn’t that sort of imply that whatever it is that I’m thankful for was all about me?
There’s a scene in The Kid where Bruce Willis’ character is in a hurry to get through a line at a cash register. The lady in front of him seems to be determined to take 5 minutes to dig around in her purse and find the exact change. Willis reaches over and pays for her entire purchase. The lady starts to say something thankful and Willis stops her and says, “believe me, I didn’t do it for you.” And there goes all the gratitude.
Every good and perfect gift that we receive is from above, “coming down from the Father of lights.” How thankful could we continue to be if the message God really wanted to send us was “believe me, I didn’t do it for you.” How easy it would be to forget His benefits, if it wasn’t actually *for our benefit*? Certainly, there is an aspect in the cross of Christ that it was done a certain way so that the Father could glorify the Son, and vice versa (or whatever it is when it actually goes 3 ways instead of 2). But in the most direct sense, Jesus died on the cross **for me**. If Jesus *only* had wanted to benefit the Father in some way, He could have done something different. The cross was for my benefit. He also gives us rain and food and every good thing, *just for us*. How could we be properly thankful, if our benefit was a side effect? It might be worth a smile and a handshake, but not proper thanksgiving.
But rejoice! The Lord **has** done mighty things for us. This is what thanksgiving is about: It’s the only proper way to righteously focus on yourself. You have to focus on your situation at least for a second to *see* what his actual benefits to you have been, so that you can truly be thankful for something God has *actually* done. We aren’t to be thankful for the things that God, in theory, could do, but for things that He has actually done for us.
Like me for example. He gave me a wif. I ain’t got her yet, but I can see her coming, and she is a beautiful sight to behold. (Mmmm….) He also gave me a Mom and a Grammy who would (literally) drive 1000 miles to decorate my house and give me gifts they can’t afford (and a dad who whined about not being able to come). And grandparents on the other side who have done things for me that I don’t think I’m even really allowed to mention in detail.
Okay, so here’s the cool thing: It is because He first loved us that we love him. It is only because He has first done something solely for our benefit that we can come back in worship and do things solely for *His* benefit. 1) we wouldn’t otherwise have anything to give him, and 2) it’s only really in grattitude that we would have the capacity to come to Him “like a weaned child with its mother,” with our hearts already wholly satisfied, so that we’re not reaching and grasping for more. Only in thanksgiving can we truly give up offerings to Him without grudging because we know that His gifts to us are already infinitely greater than our gifts to Him. If we’re aware that there’s no comparison, no reciprocity, then we can get rid of that sense of payback, and **only then** will we be able to honestly say, “It’s all about you.”
neumatikos 
I don’t know how old you are, but if it makes you feel any better, my husband was starting to think he’d NEVER find a wife when I met him. He was 27 and I was 19 when we started dating. He married me at 29. 🙂 He always said he knew there was somebody out there for him, too, so hang onto that notion!
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Oh, don’t worry. I’m engaged. Near, but not yet.
🙂
KB
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