We live in a culture that is dominated by self. We hear phrases like, “You deserve better,” or “You deserve the best.” Our kids are taught to have high self-esteem. Our culture is encouraged to have the newest car, biggest house, newest technology; you name it. But this is contradictory to what God teaches us.
God teaches us that we should become last in order to be first (Matthew 10:12), and that we should consider others as better than ourselves (Philippians 2).
- Then why are we constantly frustrated that we aren’t being recognized for the work that we’re doing? Shouldn’t Jesus be lifted higher than ourselves?
- Why are we constantly grasping our money in our bank accounts? If we have change in our pockets, we are among the wealthiest people in the world. Shouldn’t we be helping those who are far less fortunate than we are?
- Why are we constantly finding ways to blame others for hurting us, when maybe we are too proud to admit that we are the ones who won’t let go of a grudge? Shouldn’t we be finding every way possible to serve everyone we come in contact with?
Offering something that you want to get rid of is easy. It’s like giving those old clothes away to Goodwill. Being an offering is hard. Offering your entire life, your very best, your very self for the cause of Jesus is hard. But it’s what we need to learn to do. I pray that I can be an example, and be completely selfless, so that Jesus will be lifted higher and higher.
When we become selfless, we stop seeing ourselves, and start to see the needs of others, and it is tremendously eye-opening.
