We tend to think a lot of ourselves. We naturally take care of our wants and needs first. The motto of this world is “Me first.” Yet there are some who dare to be different and have been acknowledged as selfless individuals, revered for the help they have given to the poor. Take Mother Teresa for example. Most would acknowledge here selfless giving of her time and resources while living a life of moderation.
Our prime example is to be taken from God and His Son, Jesus Christ. God could have made man entirely different from Himself, but He chose to make us in His image. He could have told us to sit there, be quiet and work while He ran things, but He put us in charge of His creation…
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28 (NASB)
Jesus, the Son of God, was selfless in His short life on this earth…
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB)
As you start out this new year, think about how you can help others. Think about how you can live the life that Paul speaks of in Philippians 2:3…
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (NASB)
SEEK FIRST THE