Abandoning Selfishness

410 words


Selfish ambition can run an otherwise good church, but genuine humility can build it up. Being humble involves having a true perspective about ourselves. It does not mean that we should put ourselves down or appear more holy than we are with false humility. Before God after all, we are all sinners, saved only by God’s all-forgiving grace. There is nothing we could have done to save ourselves. As the bible states, “all have sined and fallen short of the glory of God.”

But we are saved and therefore have great worth in God’s eyes and in his kingdom. When we were baptized, we were adopted into his family. We became God’s sons and daughters, Jesus’s sisters and brothers. That means that the church is one large family. If selfishness took over the family, nothing would get done. God’s kingdom would not be glorified. The family of believers would not hold together. Even if it did, what kind of family would it be if everyone was fighting over the toys, neglecting their chores and ignoring their father? It definitely would not be a family I would like to be a part of!

Then again, if each member of God’s family shared all the joys of each member’s
life, if they grieved with each other in times of sorrow, then what a comfort it would be to each member there! If every person in that kingdom gave of themselves, for the comfort of their sisters and brothers, there will be less want in the church. If each member took the good news to a single neighbor and shared their relationship with Christ with them, the Church would double in a year. And if we learned to truly love each person we come across, there will be less neglected people out there. There would be less hungry lonely, or unwanted children. There would be less forgotten poor or lees that think they have no place in this world.

We are to lay aside selfishness, and treat others with respect and love, because we
were first treated that way by God. Considering others as more important than
ourselves links us with Christ, who was a true example of humility and perfect love. Only then will we be a model for the world. Only then will we be showing Christ’s example to a lost and lonely world. Only then will we act like a true child of God!