One of the greatest lessons I’ve
learned is that you can’t be both selfish and happy. I know this is true
through my own personal experience, but more importantly, the Bible has some
things to say about the attitude we should have about “self.”
For example, love is not selfish. In the Amplified Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, “…Love (God’s love in us) does
not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not
self-seeking....” In 1 Corinthians 15:31, the apostle Paul
said, “…I die daily [I face death every day and die to self]” (AMP),
which basically means he was not self-seeking but instead focused on doing what
God called him to do with his life.
There are also scriptures that teach us the importance of having
self-control. Galatians 5:23 lists self-control as a fruit of the Spirit, and 2
Timothy 1:7 says that in Christ, we have a spirit “of
power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and
self-control.” If you’ve lived very long, you realize that not
being selfish requires self-control, because we’re all born with a human nature
that is selfish. Think about how babies act: they are only concerned with what
they need and usually cry when they don’t get their way.
Thankfully, when we experience new life in Christ, we die to sin.
Romans 6:11 (AMP) says, “Even so consider yourselves
also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in
unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.” But even
though we die to sin, sin does not die. That’s why we have to continually make
the decision over and over again to choose to do the right thing on purpose.
And we have what it takes, in Christ, to do what’s right—whether we feel like
it or not.
Discover Your True Destiny
As Christians, we’re destined to be molded into the image of Jesus
Christ (see Romans 8:29). Jesus is the greatest example of what it means to
love others and not live a selfish life. First John 3:16 (NIV) says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
This
scripture shows us that Jesus gave everything when He demonstrated His love for
us. And we are to follow His example. The truth is, loving others is not always
easy, and it always costs us something: time, money, convenience, etc. But
through our relationship with Him, we can find the strength and ability to love
others, even when it seems to cost more than we think we can give. God is
faithful to give us His love, grace and wisdom to reach out and be a blessing
to others. And when we do, we end up receiving more joy and peace than we had
before.
Now
it’s important to understand that God doesn’t expect you to take this to such
an extreme that you don’t take care of yourself. We need to use wisdom so we
can be healthy emotionally, mentally and physically while we’re helping others.
In following Jesus’ example, remember to make your relationship with God your
number one priority and do what He puts in your heart to do.
Get the Right Mindset
The world is full of lonely, hurting people who are hungry for the
love of God and the hope that is only found in Jesus. I want to encourage you
to get rid of a “What about me?” mindset and instead pray,“God, show me someone who needs
a blessing. Show me someone I can help.”
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