ME, ME, ME!

As I reflect on last weekend (Easter) and the sacrifice that the Lamb made for all of us, I am reminded of Jesus' incredible humilty.  As he laid dyring on the cross, he asks God to forgive his executioners for they did not know what they were doing.  Even though he lays in utter humiliation, brokenness, pain, and torment, he still has one desire: for all to be dunked in the blood of his sacrifice and the freshness of the Spirit.

 I think about houseboats and how I see this same desire played out week-after-week.  Campers come on Sunday/Monday yearning to be physically dunked in the waters of the Delta/Shasta, yet come Friday/Saturday, they cry, sing, shout, and eagerly desire to be dunked with and in Jesus' desire.  But why?  It is because they got to ride in a ski boat, sleep on top of a houseboat, or play Egyptian Rat Slap?  Or is it because their driver encouraged them to keep trying to stand up on the wakeboard, their youth pastor got to finally sit down with them on the roof and ask them about their family life, or their barney taught them the meaning of service through the warming up of baked beans? 

As we daily immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the blood, water, purity, freshness, and love of Christ in order that campers may be dunked with His holiness.  It is not us!  If we woke up every morning and the first thing we did was walk out to the ski boat, check oil, quickly make some coffee, then wake camper up, YET fail to spend time in the Word, then how can we expect to pour out His love onto others when we were never filled with it to begin with?

 I remember those weeks as a driver when I completely failed to spend time with the Lord every morning.  Those were the most tiring, stressful, and draining weeks I may have ever lived through.  I ran off my own energy and everyone saw it.  I failed to act in humility.  I failed to give Christ the glory.  I wanted everyone to see my good works, how tired I was from the hard work I had put in, and how much I was doing to make sure the campers had a good week.  Yet, I was unable to serve as effectively and work as hard because I relied on myself. I was so concerned about campers seeing ME, not JESUS!  I pointed campers to MYSELF, not to JESUS. I thought it was more important to get five more minutes of sleep than it was to get five more minutes in relationship with Jesus. 

I need to remember that it is important to dunk/immerse myself in the refreshing love of the Spirit every morning so that others can be dunked in Christ's love being poured out through me. 

Where am I pointing?  To myself? Or, to Christ?