Christ's name

Author: Travel Planner

PALESTINE — I have written often about selfishness being our main hindrance in life.

Just about every sin imaginable can be brought back to selfishness, even in the Garden, Adam and Eve wanted the knowledge of God for themselves.

We sin because we want something. We sin in the heat of the moment. Passion or lust drives us. We sin because self gets in the way.

Like I said, I have talked about this to the point I imagine many of you are sick of it. The thing is, I am guilty of the sin of selfishness and God is able to point that out to me and it burdens my heart, but if we look to Christ instead of ourselves, then we see life holds so much more for us.

I am recently a new father. My little girl is the joy of my life, but there are moments at 3 a.m. when she is crying that I do not care about her needs because all I want is sleep. I hope I am not unlike most new parents, but that selfish desire wounds me to my core and I must pray that God forgives me for it.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." — Philippians 2:3-4

Paul is not telling us to forget all about ourselves and focus only on others. There are things we need to do for ourselves, we need to work to earn money to feed ourselves and our family; to put clothes on our back and a roof over our heads.

Those are personal needs that must be met, but I contend not over following Christ.

Paul also told us to look after the interests of others.

When I see my daughter crying, I must try and understand what she needs. At two months of age, it isn't hard to figure it out; she either needs to be fed, burped, or her diaper changed.

For those in the world, it may seem to be a harder task to figure out what people need, but it really isn't.

If a person doesn't have Christ in their lives, then that is a need we must look after. If a person has strayed from Christ and can't seem to find their way back, then that is a need that must be met. If a brother or sister in Christ is experiencing grief or is just going through a rough patch, then we should be there to pick them up.

There is so much we can do for people outside of our normal routines. If we give of ourselves in Christ's name, then we bring glory to His holy name.

When James and John's mother asked Jesus to have them sit at his right hand in heaven, Jesus said service was the key.

"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." — Mark 10:42-45

Followers of Jesus had, and have, a hard task. We must become servants of all mankind because it is our duty to spread the gospel. If we lower ourselves and come to them, then Christ takes on a whole new meaning.

I have written several times about Jeff Dixon, a missionary friend we have in China. He told us the work there is hard, but gratifying. In America, when we think of a preacher or missionary we think of somebody going out and standing in front of a group of people, with maybe a translator, preaching a sermon.

Jeff told us it doesn't work that way. There is little value placed on human life in the particular culture he is working in, so explaining to them how God came in the form of a man and died so that they may live is as foreign a concept as grits and gravy.

In order for Jeff to make an impact, he must serve them in many different ways. That is how they come to an understanding of Christ — through service.

It seems what's happening over there has become the case here in the U.S. In many cases it seems the gospel has become "Americanized." For many, the church is looked upon much the same as an afternoon baseball game.

A fun place to come and socialize with friends and neighbors, but few of us realize God’s redemptive plan, with precious few outside the church having a true understanding of what the gospel is and why Jesus is our only way out from this dreadful world.

People give money to missionaries, there are special programs for the people in the church and there are many in our churches who work actively in community outreach programs trying to reach the lost of the area, but for most we leave all this hard work to just a few.

We are all called to be missionaries. We are all called to share what Christ has done for us and call on the world for repentance. (We must never forget to leave that out, because we must come to Christ in repentance for our many sins.)

Sure, we can talk to people about Christ, but wouldn't our message be much more effective if we lived a life of service to Christ.

Now, before you think I got off track from my original message, I am about to bring it together. For many of us, we don't want to live a life of service because we are selfish. We don't read the Bible in our homes because we think there is something else we would rather do. We don't praise Christ for what he has done in our lives because a lot of us think we did it ourselves.

We fail to be humble servants because we don't want to be seen as just regular folks. We want to achieve a certain station in life and really don’t care how we get there.

Too much self awareness can be a bad thing when it prevents others from hearing about Christ, or better yet, seeing Christ in our lives.

I will close with Paul's not-so-rosy take on selfishness.

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." — Galatians 5:19-21

Did you notice selfish ambition, in whatever form it may take, is on the same scale as witchcraft and all that other bad stuff Paul was talking about? We are our own worst stumbling block.

0 Comment
 
Older Posts