Replacing "I"

And inserting LORI

Autocorrect is a crazy thing.  When it works correctly, it's a handy tool for editing typing mistakes.  When it doesn't work correctly, it's a cross between comic relief, Freudian slips, and monumental humiliation.

Often when I type the word Lord, autocorrect changes it to my name.  I find myself constantly proofreading - the thought of contributing something to God, but it comes out as my idea is horrible.  Despite being an unintended error, it would also be accidentally blasphemous.

The other day, it occurred to me what a great analogy this is:  often in life, we claim that we are following the Lord, praising the Lord, living for the Lord; when in fact we are replacing Him with "I."  I follow my own interests, I praise my own works, I live for myself.  The secret autocorrect of my mind tells the truth about the secret desires in my heart.  I might say it's about the LORD, but what I'm really doing is making it about LORI.

And then I heard a song on the radio.

I can't remember the song.  Just the line.  I've searched for the song, but this lyric is in a lot of popular Christian songs so I haven't been able to find it.  But it doesn't matter.  What matters is the lyric.

"King of Glory"

I was driving along, not really paying attention to the song.  But then I heard the chorus and a man's voice singing those three little words.  Only what I heard was 

"King of Lori"

Suddenly it was as if the Lord was saying, "I'm your king.  I'm yours.  It's personal."

I admit I got a little choked up at that.

UPDATE:  I heard the song again and made sure to write it down!  It's "This is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham. 

And it got me thinking.  What if I added this personal moment to my secret selfishness?  Although I am wrong to focus on me and my desires and my will, the Lord was also showing me that sometimes it's okay to place yourself into the equation.  It's not that I'm to be glorified, but that I need to remember that the One I glorify also takes delight in me.  In me!  Personally!  Even as I am in my unholy moments of selfishness.

I heard once that a pastor liked the KJV of the Bible because it uses the word "hearken" when the speaker wanted to get the reader's attention.  This pastor's name was Ken, and he felt it was God saying, "Hear, Ken.  Don't miss this!"  I think that's a neat way of looking at it.

So many times we take for granted that scripture is living.  We read the black and red words and maybe get a nugget or two.  But we lose the vision that the words are for us.  As individuals.  Those words are personal and intimate and we gloss over them without ever placing ourselves on the pages and in the gaps of the words.

I is such an important letter in our language.  It's used in countless words, but it also makes up its own very important word all by itself.  It is a regal letter, standing tall and important.  And that's how we apply it to ourselves - with pride and purpose and distinction.  But it's a letter that gets us into trouble.  It's a letter that removes the need for anyone else.  It's a letter that leaves us alone and broken.  And so it is a letter than needs to be replaced.  Ensure instead of insure. Love instead of just live.  Bond rather than bind.  Be salt instead of silt. 

But don't forget to insert yourself where necessary.  See your importance not through your own eyes, but through the eyes of the very One who made you.  See yourself through the pages of His creation and His plan for you, rather than through the plans you have for yourself.  By inserting yourself into the story, you become a participant in the promises.  Find your place among the black and red words; hear your name whispered throughout time.

Know that when you replace your pride with God's worth, He becomes your KING!