Gospel-Centered Mom: A 5-Day Devotional By Brooke McGlothlinSample

The ME Gospel

The insistence on our being enough because we have Jesus perpetuates a wrong thinking that has wormed its way into the minds and hearts of God’s people, doing substantial damage along the way. I call it the ME gospel.

What is the ME gospel? At its best it’s the “good news” that God is all about meeting our needs, giving us what we want, and closing the gap of all our physical and emotional shortcomings. At its worst it’s not really “good news” at all. It trips us up because it forces us to always be looking out for number one and forgetting we’re here to serve God and others.

Life in the ME gospel centers on what we need and want. We get caught up in believing our goals, desires, and even legitimate needs are the fundamental problems to be solved in this life. In other words, we view our problems as the top items on God’s agenda.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we read that we are God’s “own possession.” When we come to Christ, we become His possession. He owns us. We’re His property. Any benefit we receive from belonging to Him is just a bonus. Healing, relief, control, order, change in circumstances, financial provision—all extras in the pursuit of our purpose, which is to “proclaim the excellencies” of God.

My human nature balks at the notion of being owned, but the concept of being a slave to Christ is in the Bible in black and white. When I said yes to Jesus, I gave Him the right to do with my life whatever He wants.

My friend Stacey’s daughter Caroline has a serious chronic illness. As Stacey tells me, “Being a Gospel-Centered mom allows [Caroline’s] illness to drive me to the Lord, revealing new things about His character I wouldn’t have known without it. If I make it all about me, I’ll constantly wonder why I can’t do enough to change it. If I see that all of our lives are about God, I have hope in the God who can.”

This is the beauty of living a life surrendered to God. Whether or not our circumstances change, we find peace, joy, and a freedom we can know no other way.

Describe a dream or goal you had that you had to give up in order to do what God asked of you as a mom.