Strategies for Cultivating Self-Forgetfulness (#1)

(You will want to read the previous post on self-forgetfulness in order for this to make sense.

Here is Piper's first strategy for cultivating self-forgetfulness:

"The way you move toward it is to ask for it. I pray that way regularly before I preach and before others speak. It’s a horrible thing to stand in front of a group outside of yourself and thinking about how good you’re doing. If you are doing well you’ll be really arrogant and if you’re doing poorly then you’ll panic. “They’re going to leave any minute and I’m losing everybody!” There are few experiences more glorious in my life than waking up after thirty minutes after preaching because I have been so taken with the substance of the text and the person of Christ."

You might be tempted (like me) to think, "Ok, nothing too profound there." However, I have realized that I often neglect to ask God to do the work of changing me in areas where I need change. I gravitate toward lists, convicting quotes, sermons, books, and succinct Bible verses containing commands rather than asking the Spirit of God to work a miracle of change. Ask the Lord to help you forget about yourself today and to make you freshly aware of the glory of Christ and the joy of serving others.