Paul Tripp: God knows us; He really does. He really does. And He knows that you and I are fickle. He knows that we have hearts that just wander all over the place. And to help us, He hasn't just given us a set of rules. No, to help us, He's given us Himself.

Kate Crowley: Welcome to Right Here, Right Now at today's program from Paul Tripp Ministries. Join us as Paul connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Now, here's Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: It's a huge struggle for me, and I think perhaps it is for you too. It hits me every night when I go to sleep, and it hits me every morning when I awake. It fills my thoughts and follows me throughout the day. It's probably the big dilemma of my life.

Now, here it is. I was made for God, yet all I tend to think about is me. It may be something as simple as chocolate chip cookies--I love chocolate! I think that there are few delights in this fallen world more delightful than properly executed chocolate chip cookies. So the tray of warm chocolate chip cookies with soft and gooey centers is served.

Now, here's what happens to me. Immediately, as a spontaneous instinct, I sight the one that I'm convinced is the most chip-laden cookie. Now I'm watching very carefully, hyper-vigilantly, as a tray is passed around the table, wondering, "Oh no, don't let it happen!" If someone around the table will have the audacity to reach for my cookie.

Or I drag race another driver for the parking place that I sighted in on 100 yards away that I'm convinced has my name on it. Or, I can't wait for a lull in the conversation so that I can share the story that I have been silently rehearsing in my head instead of listening to the stories of others.

You see, that's the dilemma. I was made for God; yet I keep putting myself at the center of my world, and the center of my world is the one place I was never meant to be. Now be honest, isn't this your dilemma too? Don't you say, "God is at the center," but don't you fight Him for that place?

Music: "Chains and Things" by B.B. King

Woke up this morning
After another one of those crazy dreams
Oh, nothing is going right this morning
The whole world is wrong it seems
Oh, I guess it's the chains that bind me
I can't shake loose these chains and things
Got to go to work this morning
Seem like everything is lost
I got a cold hearted wrong doin' woman
And a slave drivin' ball
I can't lose these chains that bind me
Can't shake loose these chains and things
Just can't lose these chains and things

Kate Crowley: And you are listening to Right Here, Right Now. Don't go away. In just a moment, Paul takes another look at "Back to the Beginning," his new series. And be sure to tell your friends that they can listen to Paul Tripp on the web, or you can also check out Paul's latest blog.

And while you are logged on, you can read about War Of Words, Paul's book on the power of words and the freedom you can find in them. Just visit paultrippministries.org. That's all one word paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

More on "Back to the Beginning" and today's study, "Community With God" on Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp.

Susie's Fifth Birthday

Paul Tripp: It was one of those little unremarkable events that ends up just sticking in your brain. Susie was four, and it was about to be her fifth birthday. Her mom had asked if she could use one of the classrooms in the school that I was involved in to have her daughter's birthday party. And I told her that as long as all the children in the class were invited, that would be fine.

The children had all gathered in the classroom that Susie's mother had decorated for the occasion. The room looked like birthday kingdom. And in the center of the room was a long narrow table with enough room around it for Susie at the head of the table and all the other children sitting on either side. At the far end of the table, opposite of Susie, was Billy.

In front of Susie was a huge pile of beautifully wrapped gifts. It was quite a haul for a five-year-old. And in front of each guest was a plastic sandwich bag of party favors, you know a couple Tootsie Rolls, a lollipop, a pack of gum, and a big plastic whistle. Now, I think the true purpose of party favors is to remind you that it's not your party, but little Billy didn't get it.

Little Billy was at the end of the table, and he was not a happy party guest. He kept picking up his bag of party favors and holding it up as if he were comparing it to the size of Susie's stack of gifts. Billy thought he had really been ripped off. And every time he held up his little plastic bag of party favors, he would harrumph, "Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!"

He began to make enough of a scene that he caught the attention of one of the ladies who was helping with the party. Finally, she'd had it. She had seen and heard enough of Billy. And so she walked over, quite demonstratively and knelt down in front of Billy, turned his chair so they were now looking eyeball to eyeball, and she said deeply theological words to this little boy. She said this, "Billy, it's not your party!"

You see, poor five-year-old Billy had it all mixed up. He didn't realize that he had been invited to an event that did not have him at the center. He did not realize that he had been invited there to make another person happy. He didn't realize that he was there to celebrate the existence of another. And because he didn't realize who he was and where he was, he said and did all the wrong things.

What about you? Are you trying to live today as if life were your party? Do you realize you've been invited to a life that doesn't have you at the center? Do you realize that you've been invited to a life in order to make another person happy? Do you realize that your whole life, my whole life, is meant to be a celebration of the existence of another? Or, are you angrily holding up your little bag of party favors, still trying to live life as if it was your party?

Music: "1999" (Edit) by Prince

I was dreamin' when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin'
Could've swarn it was Judgement Day
The sky was all purple
There were people runnin' everywhere
Tryin' to run from the destruction
You know I didn't even care
'Cuz they say 2000 zero zero party over, oops, out of time!
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999

We Were Made for God

Paul Tripp: It's, you know, quite clear when you read Genesis 1 and 2, that we were made for God. There's no more accurate and fundamental way to describe human identity than to say that we are the creatures of God. That's the fundamental statement of the human existence. We're creatures of God, and so if we're creatures of God, then we exist because of Him; we exist for Him, and we were meant to live through Him. Romans 11:26 says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things."

Now, this will be hard for some of you, but you must start here. God does not exist for you. You exist for Him. I want to repeat that because I think it has very important implications. Here it is, "God doesn't exist for you; you exist for Him." God exists for God, and He made you for Himself. You are part of His plan. You're an expression of His glory. You are the highest of His creation, but you're not at the center of His creation. That place is reserved for Him.

So this means that you and I were designed, get this term, to live God-ward lives. What does it mean to live a God-ward life? Well, it means that everything we desire, everything we think, everything we decide, everything we say, everything we do, must be done in recognition of and submission to His existence. It means that everything we do is to be done unto Him.

Right away, if you're listening, this begins to contradict the way that we think about life. We tend to divide the world into the secular and the spiritual--you know, your job is one of the secular parts of your life. Or we talk about secular versus spiritual music. Or, our culture talks about the secular domains of education, science, and government where spirituality must not really have a say.

But if it was all created by Him and all created for Him and if we belong to Him, then everything is, in fact, spiritual in some way. If everything a human being does is to be done in a God-ward way, then think about this; there are no truly secular areas of your life.

Now, you know that that is true. Think about music; secular music is not secular whether it is a popular song about romance, or politics, or a great symphony, it is written out of and expresses a view of life that cannot help but be deeply philosophical, and there, by its very nature, spiritual in its essence.

Education, government, entertainment, are all rooted in fundamental ways of thinking about human identity, the meaning and purpose of life, definition of what is true, and systems of right and wrong. Now, all of these things exist in a God-ward fashion, or they ignore His existence and, therefore, make a huge statement about what is.

You see, everybody has to live somehow, someway in light of the first four words of the Bible. All of these things exist in a God-ward fashion, or they ignore His existence and, therefore, make a huge statement about what is.

Genesis 1 puts God at the center of it all as Creator and Lord. Genesis 1 and 2 make it very clear that people were made for God. And so, when we talk about recognizing and submitting our living to His existence, we're not talking about some distant mystical other-worldly spirituality. No, we are actually talking about true humanity. The essence of true humanity is found in a dependent, loving, worshipful, submissive relationship with God. This is the only place where true humanity can be found. To try to live any other way is a deeply dehumanizing experience.

Think about it. In your personal life, you need to daily remind yourself that you were made for community with God because you will tend to believe in, to buy in, to those lies of autonomy, and relativity, and self-sufficiency.

So this means that, in your marriage, you must daily remind yourself that you were made for community with God. At your job, you must daily remind yourself that you were made for community with God. As you parent your children, you must daily remind yourself that you were made for community with God.

In moments of leisure and entertainment, you must daily remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. In your life of business and finance, you must daily remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. As you make plans for the direction of your life, you must remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. When you're angry or discouraged, you must remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God.

As you face difficulty and trial, guess what? You must remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. When you are sick or when you are healthy, yes, you know what's coming next; you must remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. As you are acquiring possessions, you're already anticipating me. You know, you must remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God. You must always remind yourself that you were made for relationship with God.

So how are you doing? Is your life carefully constructed so that you can pursue the one thing for which you were made--community with God? Or are you working very hard to try to fit this central humanizing thing into an already overcommitted and already too busy schedule? I think that's most of us.

You see, our schedule has actually been set by a different set of values, and we're frenetically busy; we have little time that's not filled with some kind of activity, and we're trying to squeeze in this central commitment to a profoundly important and humanizing community with God. Now where does that leave us? This is pretty sad to admit. It leaves us with Sunday. Sunday is the day, then, that we pursue spirituality, but often during the rest of the week, we actually deny our humanity. I would ask you, "How dedicated are you to pursuing community with God?"

Music: "Who Am I?" by Casting Crowns

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wondering heart?
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord You catch me when I'm falling
And You told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

A Humbling Night at the Reception

Paul Tripp: It really was pretty humiliating. I thought everyone would notice, but there was nothing I could do. I was at an important reception held in the mansion of a wealthy and influential couple. Early in the evening, proving my dexterity, I had spilled grease all over the front of my pants--you'll get the picture here--they looked wet in just the wrong area.

Now, I was hyper aware of my pants. I couldn't get them out of my mind. I couldn't quit thinking about what I must look like to the others who were gathered there--and how others might be thinking about how I looked. I would have just loved to leave, but I had ridden with others, and they seemed in no hurry to go. Then the fateful moment came. Someone introduced me as an author and asked if I would say a few words to the whole group. I couldn't believe it, but there was no way for me to hide now. So with my stained and wet looking pants, I stood up and made a few comments.

Now, you know what these moments are like. I don't remember at all what I said, but I remember very well what I was thinking--I was thinking about my pants--I was thinking about what people were thinking about my pants. That night after the evening was over, it hit me; it really didn't make any difference because I'm really not that important.

You see, the gathering didn't rise and fall with the condition of my pants; the success of the evening was not determined by how comfortable Paul Tripp was; the people around me that night were not spending the evening focused on me. As humbling as it actually is to even say it, they actually couldn't have cared less about my pants, as shocking as that may seem to me.

Do you get the gist of my story? It is a very embarrassing example how utterly self-focused and self-absorbed we can be. We can be so focused on how we feel, and how we feel about how we feel, and how we feel about how others feel about how we feel, and how we feel about what we're going to do with how we are feeling, and how we feel about how successful we have been with dealing with how we feel and the feelings that have followed.

We can be so busy with us; we can be so focused on us; we can spend so much of our time, guess what, doing what? Taking care of us! Very often, it's the very first thought that greets us in the morning. It's the very last thought that leaves us at night, but it simply is not the way we were meant to live. We were not to live totally focused on us. That focus is not just a denial of spirituality--it denies the true core of our humanity. We were not supposed to live completely absorbed by us.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: So what have you been thinking as you've listened to me today? What have you been thinking about your relationship with God, your schedule, your true community with God? So how much does community with God shape the way you live? What is the good life, for example, that you're working on, and how much does that good life include God, His purposes, His kingdom? What does set your goal and determine your values? What demands your money and eats up your time?

Is there a way that you've sectored off your relationship with God so that He exists only at certain times and in certain places in your life? Is God really your motivation for what you do, for how you respond to people and situations of life? If you could have your dream life, how much of that would be about God's existence and God's kingdom? How much of your life is driven and shaped by love of God? How motivated are you by God's glory? How intimate and consistent is your community with God? God knows us; He really does; He really does! And He knows that you and I are fickle. He knows that we have hearts that just wander all over the place; and to help us, He hasn't just given us a set of rules. No, to help us, He's given us Himself.

You see, although I am self-absorbed, God has given me His grace. His grace is meant to pry me out of the claustrophobic confines of my self-divine world so that I can know the spaciousness of community with Him. His grace really is my hope.

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp and a fresh look at your relationship with God from the series, "Back to the Beginning," on today's addition of Right Here, Right Now.

For more encouragement and help in speaking words of grace, words that can help free you and others, take a look at War Of Words, a book by Paul Tripp which examines the power of God-honoring speech and the power of words. That's War Of Words, available on our website, paultrippministries.org, all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

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Be here next time for more truth in the name of Jesus Christ, Wednesday. This is Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, we want to remind you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help, right here, right now.