“He whose teaching originates with himself seeks his own glory.”

This is the AMPC translation, in part, of John 7:18. The classic amplified bible version often expands the normal translations to include thought patterns not included in general translations. That doesn’t mean they are wrong, more perfect, nor relevant or irrelevant. They are just that, thoughts about how the scriptures can touch the mind of another individual.

The reason I am even bringing up this issue is because I thought about myself and who I am. When I came to Christ there was a general agreement among everyone that knew me at that time. “He isn’t being himself.”

Praise God, I was in fact a new creation and I had lost my “self”. At the time I never considered the possibility of losing my “self”. I was on a journey of discovery to know who God was and everything that He was saying and doing in my life. It did not occur to me to identify the Trinity, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. He was I AM.

It wasn’t until I joined a gathering of other believers that I discovered tenets, disciplines, definitions and administrations of faith. Up until then I was happy to be lost in my relationship with my God. It never occurred to me that I might not be doing it right. So many people had their insistent counsels about how important is was to believe the same way they believed.

How much of what I encountered during those years was exactly that opening translation? “He whose teaching originates with himself seeks his own glory.” Having lost my “self” how much did those teachings influence me into discovering my “self” in Christ? It became a contest of wills to discover my “talents”, “gifts” and “callings”. If I was going to serve God then I had to do it according to those teachings.

It has only been these past few years that I discovered I had it right to begin with all those decades ago. I was discovering who Christ was in me in the absence of self.