"It's not about me and it's not about you."

I love this truth! Even when I forget and God has to gently — and sometimes not so gently — remind me, I love reading His word where He tells me over and over, it's not about me.

This hasn't been an easy truth for me to embrace. Over the past few years of my life, I have come to realize that knowing this and believing this are two very different things. For today, will you imagine with me how much peace we could have in our lives if we really live by this truth? But there is more to this truth than it not being about you and me.

"It's not about me and it's not about you; it is, however, about God!"

I love that even more! It's about God. Every thought, every deed, every action, every word, every blessing, every struggle, every praise, every THING is about, for and because of God.

I'm not exactly sure when we started thinking and living in a way that portrays that life is all about us. However, if we look around our world, at what we do and watch and read, and the time we spend climbing the ladder of success, undeniably, we live life believing it is all about us. We could easily blame Adam and Eve for starting this theme of self-absorbed living. God said, "Don't eat from that tree," and Eve decided it wasn't really about God, it was about Eve, and ate it anyway. Adam quickly followed, and I guess you could say the rest is history.

What God laid on my heart this morning was this, "Are you also going to continue to embrace the lie that it's all about you, Kimberli? Or, are you going to take my word as truth and live in obedience to me? Are you going to serve me and love me as I love you? Or, are you going to be a slave to your own selfishness and pride?"

I walked into my kitchen shortly after this "God-conversation." I immediately saw the Scripture painted on the wall which says, "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord" (Nehemiah 9:5-6).

I know the Holy Spirit helped me choose that particular Scripture for my kitchen wall because I need to be constantly reminded that all the things in life that praise don't compare to the praise and blessing that I am to give the Lord. Only our LORD God is worthy of my exaltation. Every time I look at my kitchen wall, I hear my precious Abba Father whispering to me, "Are you exalting me above all blessing and praise — are you living your life for me or are you living it for yourself?"

That passage in Nehemiah goes on to say that God created everything in the world, that he gave life to everything, and that the multitudes of heaven worship him. I wonder though, do the multitudes of earth worship him? Are we so busy worshipping ourselves, our jobs, and other people, that we have forgotten that it's not about us? Have we forgotten that regardless of if we praise him or not, the mountains and the rocks will because He will NOT go without praise — He can't go without praise because HE IS GOD (Luke 19:40).

Do we glorify Him in all that we do? Do we put him before everything else in our lives? Do we think about him when we are blessed? Do we go to him when we are hurting? Do we trust him in the deepest part of our anxiety? Do we know that at the end of the day, that all that matters is that we glorified him in everything we did and said? Do we know and do we live in a manner that shows the world it's not about us, it is about God? Is the life we're living about God, or is it about us?

Is the life we're living about God, or is it about us?
The more we praise God in all that we do, the more we will understand and live in His truth. It really is all about Him. It's all for Him. It's all because of Him. He is the "I Am" while each of us must say, that without Him, I am the "I am not."

The final exclamation mark of praise in our Old Testament song book puts it this way:

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. (Psalm 150)

Why? Because we can ... because he asks us to ... because he is worthy of all our praise and ... because it's not about me, and it's not about you, it's about God. And because oft that we can say, "Praise God!"