Forget you!

St. Augustine wrote, "There can only be two basic loves: the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness of God."

Insightful to say the least. Convicting to be sure. I guess there are two basic loves, but there can only be one at any given time. I have many times loved God more than myself. I have also (confession time) loved myself far more often. Too often.

Being a follower of Jesus is easy on paper, but hard in practice. Jesus gave us a great working example of what it looks like to love God more than yourself. How else can you explain his prayer in Mark 14:35-36? To love God more than yourself, to the forgetfulness of self, means praying daily that God's will would be done instead of what I want. Honestly, as a human, that sucks. As a follower of Jesus, and therefore not bound to this life, it's humbling and admirable to be like Christ. I need to be less human and more a follower of Jesus.

I don't have it figured out. I don't know how live it out nearly as well as I can type it in this space. It's a target, however, and a prayer that I know I need to pray every morning. "Lord, let me love you unto the forgetfulness of myself. Not my will be done, but Your will, God."