SELFLESS

We live in a ‘me’ first world. Look out for ‘number one’ is the motto of the masses. I want it now. What’s true for me isn’t necessarily true for you. My needs are important. I am climbing the ladder of success. Look at me!

Paul was dealing with this very same problem in the church at Corinth. People wanted their own way. Some were bragging because they had a certain gift and others did not. The result was division in the church where unity in Christ was to be the rule. Paul proceeds to explain to the people of Corinth how important love is. In defining love for them, he gives not a simple definition, but a series of qualities. When examined closely these qualities all have a central theme. They are selfless.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5. does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered

1 Corinthians 13:4b-5 (NASB)

Listen to how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message:

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, 5. Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

This theme runs throughout the Scriptures. When Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac, he had to think of what God wanted, not what he desired. When Jesus came to this earth, He thought not of Himself, but of you, me, and His Father in heaven.

Jesus could have exalted himself while on the earth. He could have simply wiped out the Pharisees for their wickedness. He could have snapped His fingers and eliminated the Roman soldiers sent to escort Him to the cross at Calvary. Instead, he chose to be obedient to His Father in heaven, to the point of death on the cross for your sins and mine. (Philippians 2:5-8)

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; Philippians 2:3 (NASB)

Love is something that we do. Most of us do not ‘feel’ like putting others first. It is a conscious choice that we must make in obedience to God.

1 John 4:8 - 11 (NLT) But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM…