Narcissistic Christianity: Joseph

We are all guilty of it! You've done it, I've done it! We have apparel, stickers, etc to prove it. You know the shirts that say, "God's favorite"! I get it. For a long time the church made God seem like He was an angry tyrant that enjoyed punishing His children. That is not God, our Abba Father! He is also not a God that is frolicking along the flowers saying, "Live life anyway you want, grace has you covered," with a point and a wink.

We have turned a loving relationship with a Holy Father into a one sided narcissistic relationship that is all about us!

We are in a season of Christianity where people are figuring out the greatness of the love God has for us and the relationship He desires to have with us and often with no guidance or discipleship. With this we have the opportunity to make us the hero/heroine or victim from every biblical story and everyone who disagrees with us the villain or enemy from those same stories. Truth is that none of these stories are about us. We have to read everything in context, knowing there are things we can learn from all the stories without making it all about ME. I hope to shed light on the truths of God's word while taking the narcissism out!

One of my favorites that the Lord convicted me on is the story of Joseph. You can read Genesis 37-50 for this story. A brief synopsis: Joseph is a miracle baby and dearly loved by his father. This causes his brothers to have a disdain for him. Then he starts having dreams about him being above his family and they bow to him. This makes his brothers more mad, so they sell him into slavery. He ends up in prison and interprets his cell mates dreams. He later gets to interpret Pharaoh's dream and saves Egypt during 7 years of famine, as the second in command only to Pharaoh. Later when his brothers come to Egypt in need of grain, he forgives them, and moves the whole tribe to Egypt. His father then dies and his brothers are scared, and now we get to a heavily misused line, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep MANY PEOPLE alive," (Genesis 50:20 NASB).

Unfortunately, many (including myself), quote "What you meant for evil against me, God meant for MY good"! That is not what the word of God says! It says, "God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to keep MANY PEOPLE ALIVE!" Even Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together FOR GOOD to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

It is always bigger than us and to bring about His purpose for a greater good and His glory. I believe that I am favored by God, and so are His other children. I believe He loves me individually and uniquely, and He also loves His other children individually. I know I have been called and chosen by Him, and so are many others. As long as I am obedient to Him through every season good or bad He will work it together for the good according to His purpose, bringing about glory to His kingdom. It is all about Him being glorified and people coming into the knowledge of Him. If my rendition of good doesn't point back to His purpose, I can't quote half a scripture and label it truth. While I believe God desires to bless me and has good things in store for me, it needs to all point back to Him.

I would love to have others chime in. Also, what a some biblical stories/scriptures you want to read about?