Romans 15:1,5
Matthew 5:41,42
"We must put others before ourselves - putting their needs before our own."
It's kind of funny. I've been in GJ for the weekend and I met my sister for coffee over which we talked about the very thing that Romans 15:1,5 talks about; that we must "bear with the failings of the weak" or "carry the weaknesses of those who are not strong" and "not to please ourselves". This covers a lot of ground in the Christian life. It can easily, and rightly, be applied to family, friends, neighbors and those beyond our daily context. It is also very integral to the Christian life in so many ways and in an equal number of ways it is so very hard to grok.
The very nature of the self wants to serve...itself. We want our needs met before we ever budge to try an meet someone else's needs. Once we make an effort to meet someone else's needs then we want recognition, appreciation, even glory, deference and reverence if we can get it. This of course is self serving and not as altruistic as we'd deceive ourselves into believing.
God wants us to have a pure, selfless, serving heart before him. That is the ideal, but he is more than ready to meet us right where we are. (Un?)Fortunately, He is a good Father who will not let his children miss out on a valuable lesson. When we work in our own strength, with our own motivations, under our own delusions, for purposes not His then we will fail. We will burn out. We will be desiccated husks of potential. We will find ourselves empty with nothing left to give and then we will blame anyone but ourselves. We will accuse our fellow believers of asking too much and giving nothing to us in return. We will blame God for the perceived failure. We will lash out at anyone else rather than see the truth that we didn't do it in His timing, under His power, or for His reasons.
Often we begin to identify ourselves with a particular ministry or set of behaviors and say, "This is just what I do". The danger there is that the perceived success or failure of a ministry becomes intensely personal, and it is never meant to be. When we draw from our personal well of water there is an end to the supply. When drawing from Jesus there is no end. We get so caught up in what "has to be done" that we rarely pause and say, "What would You say I need to do". When our alignment is off then of course we will come up empty. He is the Living Water of which there is no end to the supply.
My sister and I discussed if it was possible to be "Good without God". Definition of terms can be a tricky thing so I kind of skirted that by saying "Oh yeah, absolutely a Atheist can feed a hungry person, give water to a sick person, or bind up the wounds of an injured person." So what is the difference between an Atheist or a Christian doing it? I think the answer is two-fold and fully debatable by the Atheist.
Firstly, it is a question of motivation. I don't believe and Atheist is capable of altruism. Certainly there are Christians who struggle with altruism. I have my own personal doubts about those who live in mansions and preach in crystal cathedrals, but there are those whose lives have been truly transformed, those who are even in process of being changed by Jesus, that can give without thought of self. Could an Atheist truly sell all of his possessions, give them to the poor, expect nothing in return at all, and walk away actually happy? I truly doubt that. And why is that? Because what they have is a deep part of who they are. A rich Jewish man in the New Testament wasn't capable of even giving it to the poor and the Bible says he wanted to "justify himself". How can we sacrifice our time, effort, money, possessions, and our very lives to help others? Because we have a God that we know in our bones will supply all our need and so there never is a bottom to the well. The Atheist only has their own self to draw upon and that is finite.
The second difference is purely metaphysical. When an Atheist hands a hungry person a piece of bread and Christian hands a hungry person a piece of bread there is something completely different going on there. Is it a coincidence that the entire civil rights movement of the 60's found its success not in the mocking fist of the Black Panther movement nor in the Nation of Islam, but in the non-violent, respectful but still resistant work of a Reverend? Certainly MLK was not a saint, but he was a believer. When an Atheist hands a hungry person a piece of bread the man's hunger is satisfied for but a moment. I believe that when a Christian hands a hungry man a piece of bread something, a power, is released in the spiritual realm that alters both of them forever even if they never meet again. Neither goes away unchanged and they both draw closer to Jesus even if they never speak again. The Spirit does something there in a believer's act whereas the Atheist's rings hollow only satisfying the surface need.
We are called to put others before ourselves. In the U.S.A. that message can easily get lost in the mass of messages calling for us to consume, to make it all about ourselves, and "have it your way". Those outside of the Way look and scoff at it as an invitation to be a doormat or abused by leadership. The truth, however, is far grander than anything they can imagine or conceive of.
I must decrease so that He may increase...both within me and without me.
Pax,
W
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