Jesus changed my heart a few years into my Christian life. I started off walking after Jesus very concerned about me, my experience with the Lord and how He was blessing me. Put simply, I was in it to get more God stuff for me. It was not a terrible goal for a follower of Jesus, more God is a good thing, it just subtly missed the point.
Through a series of events and His loving conviction, God changed my aims quite dramatically. While God’s blessing to me individually is wonderful and praiseworthy, God showed me this should not be my primary motivation. Being just “God please bless me” focused actually greatly hindered things. I was missing out on the real abundance of God only looking for my stuff from God. It was a case of selfish Christianity.
Growth in the Lord, great love in the Lord and, yes, even abundant blessing in the Lord never come when we are seeking after self. Jesus never ever served Himself. These only start flowing when we stop obsessiong after us and live to bless others. It is then that the Spirit in us truly soars.
Others first.
To see others saved from eternal punishment, to see others grow in the Lord, to watch others be blessed by God and others flourish…this is the greatest achievement of those who seek after Jesus. Paul equates his very life, everything in his being, with being Christ. It was Paul’s only reason for still taking up space on this earth. Christ lived to serve others.
It is what Jesus did. He gave up everything because God so loved the world. Love experienced led to love expressed in sacrifice for others. He then says to us, do what I did.
It brings glory to Jesus. Only God loves this way. Only God’s love can change us from lovers of self to lovers of our enemies.
This is the goal of this blog and my prayer for you this New Year.
That you be showered by the richness of the love of Jesus. That you enter into an others-focused life in response to that love. Service to others that flows from God’s love is when you will see your life filled with the blessings of our Savior.
May the Lord bless you and keep you,
May the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
May The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Aaron’s Prayer that I pray for every person who reads this blog.
Tom
To God be all the glory !!
Amen!
A great prayer especially this part – ” That you enter into an others-focused life in response to that love”. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!