Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.
Selfless- concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own; unselfish.
Sometimes we have to push ourselves aside in order to give someone else a helping hand. Last week we talked about humility (Day 132), this week we are going to piggyback off of that message and talk about what it means to be selfless.
Many people mistake selflessness for neglecting oneself and not caring about ourselves, for the needs of someone else. That is not being selfless, it is being destructive. Some people even get scared when they hear the word selfless because all of sudden it means, we no longer matter. That is not what it means either, it simply means not being selfish. It means taking time away from ourselves and look towards someone else. It means we count others more important than ourselves, and that takes humility. As the scripture above tells us to count others more significant
Than ourselves. But it first says, “in humility” before making such a bold and audacious statement. The nerve of Paul to write something like that right? Crazy, I know.
But what if...What if it wasn’t so crazy, what if we actually learned to put others before ourselves, and not have it be an ‘every once in awhile’ occurrence? We must come to the realization that there are things and people that are more important that our concerns. There are more people out there besides ourselves. We must live is a world where we take a stand for one another, where we are concerned about one another.
The thing about being selfless and putting others before ourselves is that it is like a chain reaction. Someone else is out there doing the same for the next person, and someone is out there putting themselves aside for our sake. I think many of us neglect the need or act of being selfless out of fear that we will be missing out. If we put ourselves on the line for someone else who is going to be there for us? If we sacrifice for someone else who will sacrifice for us? But we’re not missing out on anything if we are truly living like Christ than we do not have to worry about these things.
Christ walked this earth as a selfless man. We can take our example from Him, as we established on Day 132, Jesus was the most humble man to ever walk this earth and now we can go on and say that He was the most selfless man on the earth. Jesus gave up a throne to save us. Jesus was on the mount in agony, asking God for a way out. He was in so much agony that it says His sweat became like drops of blood. But He knew that the will of God must be fulfilled. He knew that He was sent to bring salvation to humanity.
There are two things I’d like to point out in this passage. Jesus says, “not my will, but yours be done.” We’ve talked about being selfless when it comes to other people. But can we put ourselves to the side for the will of God? Can we look past our own emotions and say, “Lord, let your will be done.” That is the ultimate act of selflessness, to get out of ourselves.
Response/Prayer Time
What if we can forget about ourselves, if only for a minute and think about someone else? Can we not be selfish and live our lives in a selfless way. Copying the example of Christ. What if we all did it? Talk to God about it.
I love you, hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 142!
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