by David Brenneman
"Why You ever chose me Has always been a mystery
All my life I've been told I belong At the end of the line
With all the other not-quitesWith all the never-get-it-rightsBut it turns out they're the ones You were looking for All this time
'Cause I'm just a nobodyTrying to tell everybodyAll about SomebodyWho saved my soulEver since You rescued meYou gave my heart a song to sing
I'm living for the world to see Nobody but JesusI'm living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus
Moses had stage frightWhen David brought a rock to a sword fightYou picked twelve outsiders nobody would have chosenAnd You changed the world
Well the moral of the story is Everybody's got a purposeSo when I hear that devil start talking to me saying"Who do you think you are?"I say
I'm just a nobodyTrying to tell everybodyAll about SomebodyWho saved my soulEver since You rescued meYou gave my heart a song to sing
I'm living for the world to see Nobody but JesusI'm living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus
So let me go down, down, down in historyAs another blood-bought faithful member of a familyAnd if they all forget my name, well that's fine with meI'm living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus
So let me go down, down, down in history (Goin' down in history)As another blood-bought faithful member of a family(That's all I ever wanna be)And if they all forget my name, well that's fine with meI'm living for the world to seeNobody but Jesus
'Cause I'm just a nobodyTrying to tell everybody All about SomebodyWho saved my soul (Gonna save, gonna save my soul)Ever since You rescued meYou gave my heart a song to sing (You gave me a song to sing)
I'm living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus(Nobody but You, Lord)I'm living for the world to see Nobody but JesusI'm living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus"
-Casting Crowns "Nobody" 2018
We certainly live in a world where money and status in social media are the drive to make people way more important than they are. From Politics to worldly Religion and everywhere inbetween. What the world reveres and wars to own as another song by a group called Hillsong had out called "Knowing You Jesus" says in it's opening.
"but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NASB...we don't know what all is possible when we leave the choices to God instead of what OUR eyes see and OUR ears want to hear.
In my life between demons, Satan maybe and certainly my sin nature, people and my own internal struggles have tried to tell me what and who I am. It's those types that WILL NOT tell you the truth about you. In Christ is where I am. A child of God is who I am. My hope is that people would look at my life and see that God was with him, just as it's written in Genesis about Joseph.
This way of thinking isn't going to be popular because it's the opposite of the thinking of selfishness that Satan wants all to subscribe to.
He wants us to think of ourselves first rather than what the Bible says of preferring one another above ourselves.
He wants us to wallow in self-pity rather than to take our hearts to God to be healed.
He wants us to go in circles mentally in worrying rather than to go to God in prayer.
He wants us to spend our time, energy and efforts into building up ourselves at the expense of others.
He wants us to strive to build our own little 'heaven' here on Earth rather than to help those in need.
He wants...and so easily gets both the believing and the unbelieving to buy into it, after all, he's had centuries to perfect it.
In the scheme of things I indeed, in this physical world, am a nobody. Only in Christ am I a somebody. Within me are battles that rage over trying to make me think I'm this or that I'm that. Even in Scripture it says to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to but to think with sound judgment in Romans 12:3.
In Christ we have a role, a responsiblity, and it's not on us to decide what it is or is not going to be. We don't have the right to tell God "Oh no, you got the wrong guy, that's GOT to be for someone else!" AKA Jonah syndrome. Go read up on that and get back with me.
We were given gifts by the Spirit to be used in service for Jesus, after we came to Christ that is. It's not on us to decide one day that all that's changed and we are going to go do something else. That way CAN lead to "Depart from Me for I never knew you.".
Romans 11:29 NASB "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." If we subscribe to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." as it says in Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB, then self should be last on our list of priorities.
Self gets self in trouble when self is all self thinks about.
When we all stand before Jesus, self is what gets burned away to reveal what was done in the body for Jesus. So self doesn't matter. Degrees and education won't matter when we stand before Jesus. Our bank account statement won't even be brought up. The number of places we stayed for this or that vacation won't be brought up. The only thing that will matter is what we did in the body for Jesus...which was to reach others for Jesus. To show them the way to the cross so that they too can find the Savior who is Christ the Lord.
We can and will convince ourselves of a great many things in order to gain the most comfort in this life. We are NOT promised comfort as the world subscribes to that definition of it. We are promised the peace that passes all understanding to those who are in Christ Jesus. We are promised that if the world hated Jesus they aren't going to be liking us much either, look at the middle east and see how much new Christian's are liked.
Satan and his minions love it when we get ourselves to do their work for them. When we teach others to do the same. When we convince them that focusing things that do not matter are ok.
Recharging WITH Jesus is ok...we need to make sure our own wells aren't going dry before we go to help someone else. This can be seen in the passage where Jesus says to take the log out of our own eye before we try to help others take the speck out of theirs. We read that Jesus OFTEN got away to be with His Father.
We do not ever find Jesus trying to win a popularity contest. We do NOT ever see Him trying to be winsome in His own right but to DO the will of His Father that is in Heaven. Jesus NEVER puffed Himself up.
He came to seek and save the lost...so what are you doing while you are on this Earth? Are you at all being the somebody that Jesus made you to be in Him, or are you living out your days in only the ways that you want them to be lived? If you are in Christ, then you have a job to do IN Christ that the Spirit said was for YOU to be doing.
I had some very strong battles in recent weeks concerning my identity in this world. Going back to some earlier teachings that I can remember, I began hand writing index cards with verses and to seek out even small plaques and things with verses on them to remind me of who I am in Christ. To remind myself to be praying. To remind myself to be strong and courageous to not be terrified to not be discouraged for the Lord my God will be with me wherever I go. To pray Psalm 143:8-12 for me. My sin nature is very potent but not more powerful than the Spirit within me from giving my life to Christ.
My aim is to be told "Well done" by my Savior. What's yours?
My hope is to be able to stand before Jesus to see His open arms welcoming me home. What's yours?
My desire is to be found doing what He called me to be doing. What's yours?
Are you living for the company you work for? I don't. I'm done with that. Been there done that and I threw away the t-shirts that proved it. I do what I do as unto the Lord while at work. I do not live for my job. I honestly do not hold those with high education in any high esteem because it's only of Earthly value, not Heavenly value. We can easily convince ourselves that what we're doing by putting our all into who we work for and still do it for the wrong reasons.
Our physical health is of some importance because God didn't design us to be stupid about taking care of it, but, it's nothing to elevate higher than our relationship with God. It's not to be on the same plain as our Spiritual food that's only found in the Word of God and a right relationship with God.
Anything that we elevate higher than our relationship with God can be an idol and God takes a very very dim view of idols. Many, Jesus said, MANY will say to Him on that day that they did this in His Name and that in His Name...and He will say depart from Me for I never knew you. People will be doing all kinds of things THINKING they are offering service to God...that's not me saying it that's what it says in the Bible. There's what it says in 1 Timothy 4 about being wary of false teachers as well as 2 Peter 2...who will be AMONG those who believe. They will be IN the professing Church.
If you want to be a somebody then Jesus has some words for you.
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:24-25 NASB.
In the list of who's-who for the end times "Lovers of self" is first on that list. Putting self first. Creating self into our own image of self. Putting self first.
If you want to be somebody then be who you were meant to be in Christ if you've come to Christ to be saved.
If you haven't yet...then that opportunity awaits you...to be someone more than you see yourself as right now. We don't know and cannot know what great things that God has in store for us until we come to Him to be saved...THEN we find out. It's nothing to be scared about nothing to fear.
In this world I'm happy to be a nobody by their definition of it.
In Christ I am happy that in Him I am a somebody because He saved my soul.
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