self·ish (sel′fis̸h)
adjective
- too much concerned with one's own welfare or interests and having little or no concern for others; self-centered
- showing or prompted by self-interest
Now, I can't say that I am never unselfish, or that I don't ever think about others...that wouldn't be accurate. Truth is, I do...and actually, a lot. But for some reason I feel God showing me that it just isn't enough...that He has higher expectations of me than this.
As a whole, our society is an extremely self-absorbed one....and if you were to get me on my soap box, I would probably tell you that I think Burger King and their "Have it Your Way" campaign from the 80's really gave us a shove in the wrong direction...but I digress :)
This point was really driven home for me last Sunday during a message from our Teaching Pastor...I don't know if I can do it justice in a shortened form, but I shall try...because it really demonstrates where I am going with all of this...not that we are all horrible excuses for human beings, but that when we step outside of ourselves, wonderful and impactful things can happen....
He was rushing home from church on a Saturday evening, and was on a timeline as he and his wife had to get their son to a game of some sort. At some point in his journey, there was a car that (I believe) had run out of gas, and seemed to be having some difficulty. At first he was trying to figure out how he could get around this annoyance, but then he remembered his New Hope sticker on the back of the car. In addition to that, he felt God nudging him to do something different..so he stopped and helped the driver, who happened to be a woman alone. When they wrapped it all up, he again felt God pushing..so he asked if he could pray with her. Afterwards, she asked him if he went to church somewhere, and he said he did (not revealing he was a Pastor)...she then told him she could really use "some of that"...
Wow...all it took was him to step outside of his circumstances and notice those that another person was in. Think of the missed opportunity if he had just kept trying to hurry home...it seems as though the woman he helped really, really needed what he provided...and she needed it way more than he needed to get home.
How many times in our daily and weekly life do we have that opportunity? Is it when we are in the line at the grocery store, acting as though a two minute wait is such a burden, and making the cashier feel badly for being less speedy? Or is it when a friend calls and just needs an ear, and we rush them off the phone because we are too busy?
As I said before...relevant was a "pretty way" of saying it....
"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 2.5
