It’s Not About You... or is it?

There are a few Christian sayings I don’t particularly like, such as “Everything happens for a reason,” “You’re exactly where God wants you to be,” and “It’s not about you.” It’s the last one I’m addressing in this post.

“It’s not about you.” We hear that all the time in Christian circles. (It’s even the first sentence of a best-selling Christian book.) When people, especially pastors, say this, it’s to remind us that life doesn’t solely revolve around us, our happiness, our problems and our needs. It’s supposed to remind us not to be self-centered.

That’s all well and good, but the problem I have with this statement is that it presents an either-or fallacy, in which only two alternatives are considered, when in fact there may be other options.

The natural alternative to “It’s not about you” is: “It’s all about God,” which causes people say things that sound spiritual on the surface like, “I’m only a tool,” and “I’m just a vessel.” Makes it sound as if we’re just a length of pipe... like God’s blessings are always on their way to someone else.

In the Old Testament, God dealt with the nation of Israel as a group, working out his purpose and plans through them, sometimes with their cooperation and sometimes without.

Under the New Covenant, God deals with the individual, re-creating us from the inside by giving us a new nature and putting his Spirit within us. Together, we compromise the church, his body on this earth.

So, here’s another option: It is about us… it’s just not all about us. It’s about us and God. After all, isn’t that the point of the gospel, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”? (Colossians 1:27)

So don’t forget, it is about you – Christ in you, that is.