It’s amazing sometimes how in a world of billions of people, we can feel that everything revolves around us. From our point of view, there seems to be a universe that begins with us and radiates out in all directions. The magnitude to which something affects us determines it’s position in the universe as it orbits around us. In this universe, people are only important to the degree that they affect our lives. Events are only significant if they impede or alter our path. We are only able to evaluate anything based on its’ effect upon us.

The problem with this mindset is that when we exert such a huge gravitational force, then everything that gets close enough ends up crashing into us with violent effect. This means that we begin to interpret events as directed at us rather than happening around us. If a company closes and we are laid off with five hundred other people, someone or something is out to get us. If someone close to us gets sick or dies, we think how could this happen to us. If a war occurs on the other side of the world, we wonder how will it affect the price we pay for gas. It distorts our whole concept of life.

The truth is that the universe revolves around God and we are just tiny specks orbiting Him. Many people and events will cross our paths as they also orbit Him. We must realize that all these things are not directed at us. Once in a while something will collide with us as paths cross and we must cope with it. Because it is God’s universe and not ours, He is responsible for the outcome and will provide all the help we need to deal with the situation, if we let Him. As we adjust our thinking, we can begin to see the affect events have on others also and that our paths are interrelated. We can reach out to help others and receive help from others. It is much easier to follow the path that we were meant to be on as we orbit around God rather than trying to resist his pull while demanding that everything conform to us. The God centered mindset gives us peace but a self-centered concept of life produces anxiety and frustration.

Pride is the driving force behind self-centeredness. Sometimes it disguises itself as low self-esteem but anything that causes us to focus on ourselves is pride. We must stop looking at ourselves and look to God. Jesus himself set the example for us. He left his position as coequal with the Father and took on an existence as a man, leaving the most exalted existence in the universe to become an obedient servant. Philippians 2:5-11 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As was the case with Jesus at the cross, there will be times when it seems are lives are completely off course but we must know that God’s powerful influence on our lives will see us through to His intended destination, just as the sun’s gravitational pull ensures that the earth will not leave it’s orbit. In the same way that God highly exalted Jesus, His intentions for us are glorious and His determinations are infallible. It is not all about me or all about you. It is about God!

All scripture is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.