Am i serving myself instead of God. What steps am I taking to correct this 526-1 - 7 - 1

'“What good is it to serve God? It is an empty thing.” (Because their hearts were not in it.) Do you go to church to be critical? To criticize? Or to really worship? Real worship has a life to back it up (Isa 58:3-8)."'

[CM's The Prophets of the Post-Exile PDF]

Isaiah 58:3, "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours." 

"Isaiah 58:6-8 God wants the fast that is accompanied by the loosing of the
shackles of wickedness, lifting the yoke of oppression, feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the poor, clothing the naked, and helping the needy neighbor. Those who thus practice social justice are assured of guidance, healing, and a protective escort. "Your righteousness" may mean the abovementioned acts of mercy or it may mean the righteousness of God which is imputed to those who believe."

[Believer's Bible Commentary]

So am I serving God or am I serving myself? This is a very good and relevant question for me. Do I study God's word out of love for it or to win arguments over the validity of the Bible and Jesus as the Messiah? Am I "feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the poor, clothing the naked, and helping the needy neighbor" with my donation to Christians organizations such as Operation Blessings or am I giving money rather than of myself?

While I enjoy pointing out to unbelievers the many prophecies in the Old Testament fulfilled by Jesus I believe studied the Bible primarily because of my love of God's word. I maintain a blog of my KI work and perhaps take too much pleasure checking the number of pageviews by country. Currently I'm getting more pageviews from Russia then the United States. Is this pride or passion?

During the first few years that I was with KI my mother and brother couldn't understand why I worked so hard at something that was not going to award me a degree. Also, I was asked when I would be through with my studies. I said studying the Bible as a lifetime endeavor. Finally, my family accepted what they thought was my near obsession with the Word.

Introspection is perhaps the best way to assure that I'm serving God rather than myself, my ego.