So Max Lucado had some good words for us the other day.
I worry about my preoccupation with this illness and how withdrawn (physically) I have become from all my friends but I don't think I have become totally selfish. I'm just in survival mode. I know this will pass and I will be able to get back out into the world and focus more on others. But Max gives us a good definition of selfishness and a good look at what God has to say about it.
"Avoid Selfishness
By Max Lucado
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Philippians 2:3, NASB
The word...for selfishness shares a root form with the words strife and contentious. It suggest a self-preoccupation that hurts others...Selfishness is an obsession wiht self that excludes others, hurting everyone.
Looking after your personal interests is proper life management. Doing so to the exclusion of the rest of the world is selfishness."
Such a fine line between looking after our personal interests and being selfish but I believe I understand what he is saying here. I need to take care of business for myself and my family but I also need to step outside of self and help others when they need it. I can't let my own personal wants take away from helping others.
Max left off the last part of that scripture that is to vital to the first though. "Do nothing out of selfish abmition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." To expound on this further, my Life Application Bible (NIV) talks to Philippians 2:3. It says:
"Selfish ambition can ruin a church, but genuine humility can build it. Being humble involves having a true perspective about ourselves (see Romans 12:3). It does not mean that we should put ourselves down. Before God, we are sinners, saved only by God's Grace, but we are saved and therefore have great worth in God's Kingdom. We are to lay aside selfishness and treat others with respect and common courtesy. Considering others' interests as more important than our own links us to Christ, who was a true example of humility."
I pray that God will keep my eyes open to my own selfishness, that He helps me to consider others' interests as more important than my own. I know I'll never be that perfect but I continue to strive for it. 8-)
By Grace Alone ...
Amen, my dear loved one. I pray also that I can always think of others when I am sorrowing and hurting. A good friend of mine just lost her husband a short time ago (Clara) and I know some of what she is going through. When we hurt, we tend to withdraw and try to pull in to ourselves, and heal. It is a way of dealing with our hurts, and God created us that way. He also made us so that (through Christ) when we begin to look outside ourselves that we see the hurting around us. You and Max have phrased it very well. I love you, Babe, and for your caring of others when you have so much to deal with yourself. Mom
ReplyDeleteGood post. For me, your blog is an act of unselfishness by letting us "walk" through this with you. Thanks for the encouragement to inspect our motives! Sometimes, my actions look like they're for others, but I know in my heart that they are self-serving. Love you!
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