Do You Have an "I" Problem?

My eye was bothering me this morning and my vision in one eye actually became so cloudy that it appeared as if I was looking through a thin film of wax paper.  I could see everything and I felt no pain, but everything appeared cloudy.  I thought a few eye drops would take care of the problem, but it turned out that there was nothing I could do on my own. I needed to see a physician.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a relatively minor situation which would be remedied mostly by taking a break from my contact lenses. My vision was fine in about a couple of hours and the doctor gave me a prescription and sent me on my way.

To sum it all up, I had an eye problem that prevented me from being able to see clearly.  And, as I was praying about my situation, the Lord showed me that the reason some of us are unable to see things clearly in life is because we are suffering from an "I" problem.

Sometimes, the cares of life, or even our successes in life will cause us to shift our focus away from God and onto ourselves. When that happens, we have an "I" problem.

Satan had the same problem. Isaiah 14:13-4 records Satan as boldly declaring, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly...I will ascend above the heights of the clouds...I will make myself like the Most High."

No matter how fearfully and wonderfully we have been made by God, we should never want to follow Satan's example of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

Even when we are speaking words of self-doubt:  "I don't think I can do it," "I'm no good at this," "I'm not the best person for the job" we are still thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought because we are declaring that our standard is THE standard of measurement, and we then go on to act as if we have the authority to declare who meets or falls short of that standard.

In reality, it's not about what we can or can't do, or what we think we can or can't do, but it's all about what God declared, equipped and commissioned us to do.  Our ability is never the issue, for we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

So, whether we think to highly or too lowly of ourselves, the best way to remedy our "I" problem is not to take matters into our own hands.  We must submit ourselves to the Great Physician, for only the Great I AM can remove the scales from our eyes so we can finally see that it's not about us.

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen