We are all tormented by a little tyrant who resides deep within us, called "self". It craves to be fed and satisfied. It seeks to elevate our opinions, our thoughts, and our desires above all others. It is one of the hardest things to eliminate as we embark on our walk with God. This tyrant is insatiable. Never satisfied, it hungers for more and more of your thoughts, rendering us worthless to pursue the life that God so desires for us. In a society which screams to elevate and exalt self-esteem, God reveals the opposite is the truth. The path to joy is to love God and others, and consider yourself afterwards. Francis Chan, in his book, "Crazy Love", gives an interesting example of this. He writes in chapter two, "Even though I glimpse God's holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all." He goes on to give this example, "Suppose you are an extra in an upcoming movie. You will probably scrutinize that one scene where hundreds of people are milling around, just waiting for that two-fifths of a second when you can see the back of your head. Maybe your mom and your closest friend get excited about that two-fifths of a second with you...maybe. But no one else will realize it is you. Even if you tell them, they won't care. Let's take it a step further. What if you rent out the theater on opening night and invite all your friends and family to come see the new movie about you? People will say, "You're an idiot! How could you think this movie is about you?" He goes on to describe how everything is about God, from His Creation, to the prophets, to His Son coming and dying on the cross for us. Our brief lives, if we are Christians, which represent that of an extra for two-fifths of a second occur somewhere between Jesus' ascension and our being in heaven worshiping God before His throne. So, why do we live our lives as though we are the star of the movie of life, rather than God? We read in James 4:14, "whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

Jesus gives an example in Luke 14:8-11, "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher'. Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus elevated humility and consideration of others over self-esteem. We read in Luke 9:23-25, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" Jesus stands completely on the opposite side of what society tells us. If we want true joy, true happiness, true fulfillment, then remember the acrostic JOY (Jesus, Others, You). That is the order we need to remember to experience the joy filled life.

Many like to play it safe in their Christian walk. Keep one foot in the world and one foot with God. Straddling the fence we try to walk a tightrope attempting to satisfy both sides but really satisfying neither side. The reason is the two sides are polar opposites. One side screams take, God says give. One side screams "Me", the other side screams "Others". A decision must be made as to whether we fulfill the lusts of the flesh and seek to feed the tyrant within ourselves, called "Self", or whether we will allow ourselves to be moved by the Holy Spirit and consider others more important than ourselves. Paul states this beautifully in Philippians 2:3-4, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." Paul goes on in Philippians 2:5-11, to give the perfect example of humility in Jesus Christ, who left heaven, and humbled Himself to become like one of us, in order to save us from our sins. With so great an example as Jesus, why do we continue to listen to the tyrant inside who will never be satisfied. It is time to fill ourselves with the things of God and silence that tyrant, so that we can experience the joy in living out the Spirit-filled life.