LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:13b (NKJV)

      Some people think they always need to be the center of attention and some of those people go to great lengths to make sure they are getting everyone's attention. One girl I know of even hung upside down from a ferris wheel in a dress that flopped down over her head showing the world her yellow, and purple polka dot panties.

      It all started when a bunch of girls got together at the county fair to go on all of the amusement park rides and Stella Peterson started daring and double daring the other girls to do some stupid and dangerous things on some of the rides.

     First came the dare to ride in the roller coaster backwards. While it was not easy to get turned around once she was buckled into her seat, Mindy took the dare. She wished she hadn't for heading down the second hill she lost her orientation, got dizzy and threw up and of course it all landed in her face. Stella thought it was funny and till she saw that the worker who was helping her was cute.

     When they got to the go-carts, Cindy dared Stella to drive the hardest obstacle course at full speed. Trying to get out of the dare, Stella double dared Cindy to stand on the back of the cart while she did it. To her dismay, Cindy jumped on the back and triple dared her to make her fall off. Stella tried her best to make Cindy fall off and as she did a large crowd gathered. When her time ran out, the crowd started applauding and circled around Cindy giving her high fives.

     “Hey, what about me?” Stella called out, “I did all the driving.” but no one was paying attention to her. Not liking that Cindy was getting the attention and she was being ignored, Stella decided she could do even better than standing up on the back of a go-cart, she was going go on the ferris wheel and have the operator make it go really fast and than she would stand up and clap her hands above her head while spinning around yelling “Look at me! Look at me!”

     Well, it didn't take long and Stella became the center of attention. On her fourth time around the ferris wheel came to an abrupt stop and she went flying over the side. Luckily her foot had gotten wrapped up in the safety strap and it kept her from falling to the ground but it did leave her hanging upside down.

     As she hung from the top of the ferris wheel, she watched the crowds gather below her, she saw them pointing at her and heard them laughing. “This isn't funny!” she thought to herself and than she realized her dress and flopped down and she was showing everybody in the park her polka dot panties and there was nothing she could do to hide them.

     By the time the ladder truck made it the fair grounds to rescue her, everyone with in a mile had gathered to laugh at her. She wanted to be the center of attention and she was. She even got her picture in the national paper, at least her panties did.

     Depending on the translation of the Bible you read, the second half of Matthew 6:13 which says For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (NKJV) may or may not be present. There are many who believe these words, called a doxology, were not spoken by Christ and were not a part of the original Lord's Prayer because they do not appear in the oldest manuscripts. It is believed that these words were added because of a Jewish custom of ending all daily prayers with a brief doxology.

     While Jesus may not have used this doxology, there is nothing to say we can not, for the “Lord’s Prayer” is only an example. Furthermore, it seems to give a better ending than the words “evil one” to the prayer, or any prayer. For many of us though, we might as well leave this doxology out for just like Stella in the above story, we want to be the center of attention we want to say “It's all mine.”

     Like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:30, we want to say “My kingdom,” for it is there we read that The king spoke, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" (NKJV) We often say MY Kingdom instead of Your Kingdom because we want our time, our money, our plans, our way period

     Let's not forget our power. Muhammed Ali said of himself before his 1971 fight with Joe Frazier: "There seems to be some confusion. We're gonna clear this confusion up on March 8. We're gonna decide once and for all who is king! There's not a man alive who can whip me. I'm too smart, I'm too pretty, I am the greatest. I am the king! I should be a postage stamp, that's the only way I could get licked!" - he was beaten - (Life magazine - Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations) To many of us think we have the power to do anything and we want the praise for what is done.

     As for the glory that should go to God we are often like Hezekiah who had been given extra years t live by God but instead of showing off God he showed off his riches. As to say Look at what I have. In Matthew 5 Jesus said we are to let our light shine – not so that we would receive glory but so that God would receive it.

     We need to be able to let God be king – king over our bodies. our behavior. our plans. in our families, etc. after all, He is creator and all belongs to Him.

     Instead of trying to do everything on our own by our own might or power, we need to back off and let God work through us.

     And let's avoid the lime light. We don't need to be the center of attention – all the attention should be focused on God.

 

     Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord! Give a joyous shout in honor of the Rock of our salvation! Come before him with thankful hearts. Let us sing him psalms of praise. For the Lord is a great God, the great King of all gods. He controls the formation of the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains; all are his. He made the sea and formed the land; they too are his. Come, kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God. We are his sheep, and he is our Shepherd. Oh, that you would hear him calling you today and come to him! Psalm 95:1-7 (TLB)

     Are we ready to pray - Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory

      Here's Something To Ponder

• Do you consider your self more important than God?
• Do you steal glory from God?