Tim Chester quote

I read this on the bus today and I found it phenomenally helpful -

"Sin is fundamentally an orientation towards self. We won't let God be God of our lives. We run our lives our way, without him. 'Self' is at the centre of the picture. Repentance is re-orienting ourselves towards God. It's putting God at the centre. What matters most is no longer our pleasure or success, or even our problems, but God's glory (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

"Our problem is that we think of ourselves as being at the centre of our world. We think of our lives as a story and, if we're Christians, God is one of the characters in our story. We look for him when we need him, and expect him to be grateful when we serve him. He's a lovely piece of our story, but we still think of it as our story. But it's not our story. It's God's story. Of course there is a sense in which God is there for us. But the bigger reality is that we're there for God. We exist to give him glory. He doesn't owe us anything, not even explanations. Meanwhile, we owe him everything as our Creator and Redeemer.

"It's so much better to be a minor character in God's story than to try and write our own script. Living with God at the centre is the good and sane life. It's better to enjoy the warmth of the sun than to light a bonfire in our home. It is better to reflect the glory of God than to be consumed by the empty pursuit of our own glory."

Tim Chester
"You Can Change" Pg 116