World Views

J-O-Y – Jesus  first; others second; yourself last.

Many of us attending Sunday school learned this simple mnemonic rubric for life.  It is so simple, and wonderful.  But, is it right?  Let’s examine four different world views.  Out the outset we need acknowledge that these are certainly not all the possibilities.  Moreover, it is a rare person indeed who would follow any of them with genuine purity.  Nonetheless, it will be helpful to look at a broad brushed picture of each.  Please note:  Throughout this we will use the male pronouns but readers may readily substitute the female pronouns.

Self-Centric

A self-centric person assesses life on the basis of the impact on himself.  Thus, in his job he views the ideal as the balance of the most comfortable job with the highest pay (or other rewards such as power, prestige, security or leverage for the future).  Every relationship is for benefit of his self.  Giving to others is a way to get more for himself.  If something goes wrong there is someone else or something upon which the blame may be fixed.  He causes success but is never responsible for failure.  Prayer is a process whereby God is persuaded to give what he, himself, wants.  If you receive from him, you may be sure that you are expected to perform for him in some way.  For such people, the marriage is for the benefits that it contains: economic, social, and physical.  His children are confronted when they do things that make him uncomfortable.  Discipline, if given at all, is sporadic and inconsistent because it depends upon his mood.  His most frequently used pronouns are I, me, and my.  Among the religious, one frequently encounters the personal flip side in which the self claims guilt and worthlessness to the point of self-pitying martyrdom.  Although at first blush this looks different, it is actually the same self-centric view asserting the self as the central figure in the person’s universe.

Task-Centric

A task-centric person is actually just a variation on the Self-Centric.  Instead of all values revolving directly around the self as described above, however, they are attributed to the importance of the tasks which the person has adopted as his identity.  Thus, this man becomes the workaholic; the burned out pastor; the laboratory researcher or the like who never has time for anything in life except the tasks in which he finds his identity.  Among the religious, these prideful self-centered people create the impression of being very concerned about the people for whom they are working but in fact it is not those people who are important but it is the tasks themselves.  Thus, these are the ones who cannot leave the ninety-nine to go after one because it is not the sheep that is important it is the task of building the flock.

Other-Centric

The other-centric person seems very concerned about the welfare of the people around him.  He looks to be much more noble than the ones above.  Sadly, he is actually no different.  His self-centered pride demands that he perform so that other people will like, accept, and be grateful to him.  He needs to focus on others so that they will feed his ego which is dependent on their responses (and/or the responses of the audience) for his own self-esteem.

Christ-Centric

The Christ-centric person is radically different from any of the above.  This man lives his life in the eternal realm.  Even though he is functioning in the world of time and space, it is entirely viewed and understood from an eternal perspective.  This man finds his identity in being an adopted child of God who is continually developing maturity in his relationship to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. He builds relationships because that is the nature of God.  He rejoices in being connected with other Christ-centric people in the exact relationships that Jesus ordains for them, because he understands that Jesus is in the process of building the Church who is destined to be the Bride of Christ.  Thus, he expects to be a disciple and to be making disciples of others.  He is never dependent on anyone to hear God for him.  Rather, this man depends on God to confirm or deny the things he hears from other people.  Because he knows the Father’s love and the absolute forgiveness that has by grace been bestowed on him, he no longer carries anxiety about either his life in time and space or his life throughout the eternal realm.  He never struggles to obtain the stuff around him because he knows that the Father has already given to him all that he needs for life and Godliness.  He is unconcerned about what others think of him because he knows what the Father thinks of him.  His activities are neither aimed to please himself nor others.  Indeed the actions are not even aimed at pleasing God because the man knows that he is already pleasing to God.  Rather, the Christ-centric person knows that everything that needs to be done is already complete in God. As such, the man simply watches what God is doing and joins God in doing it.  He hears what God is saying and joins God in saying it.  Whether these words or actions make the man more comfortable or less comfortable is irrelevant to the person’s choices to continue joining with God.  If they bring approval or criticism is equally irrelevant.  Thus, the Christ-centric person is free to love without demanding a response, because that is the way God loves.  He is free to give things because he knows the source.  He serves people with no need for recognition because God has so lovingly served him first.  

Our World View

In my view, the J-O-Y, Jesus, Others, You, perspective is often a good feeling but self-centric experience.  Clearly, it makes for a much better appearance than a Me, Me, Me, perspective.  But, the Christ-centric perspective keeps us right at the beginning of the rubric.  Christ-centric yields a Jesus, Jesus, Jesus approach.  In Jesus we come into God.  In Jesus we get direction as to how and when to be involved with others.  In Jesus we find our own identity and learn how to mature in Him.  From an external view the behavior may look the same.  But, from the eternal perspective it is entirely different. 

Let us then look to Him who is the author and finisher of our faith.