Day 2: Selfless Love, Not Selfish Love
The second thing I want you to understand about love is that true love is selfless. It puts the needs of others ahead of themselves. Now, I am going to be honest with you. I don't like this kind of love. I like love when it is all about me. I love to be the center of attention. I love it when all eyes are on me. I love it when people wait on me and appreciate me and put me first in their life, but the Bible says we are to show this kind of love to others.
Now let's look at a verse that really bugs me.
Philippians 2:3 says, "Regard others as more important than yourself."
You wouldn't think those seven little words would start a battle in my life, but they do. The problem with this verse is a little word, others. If this verse read, regard celebrities as more important than yourself or regard VIPs as more important than yourself, I wouldn't have a problem with it. That would be easy for me.
Pastor Ed Young asks us to imagine for a second that a big-time celebrity was coming to your house today for lunch. If that was happening to me, I would be the model host. I would open car doors, front doors, closet doors, and bathroom doors for Mr. or Mrs. Celebrity.
I would seat them at the head of the table, serve the most generous portion, make sure that their iced tea glass was filled to the brim, hang on every word and laugh at anything they said that border lined on being humorous because they're a celebrity. Then, after the meal, I would escort them to their car and wave as they made their way to the airport.
There is no problem at all for me to treat a celebrity as more important than myself. The battle begins to happen, though, when I am asked to treat you as more important than myself.
Rumor has it that my wife is coming over to my house for lunch this afternoon. She will drive her own car. She will open her own door. She will stand in our kitchen and prepare a great meal for our family. I will expect seconds. I will zone out through a lot of the conversation because, after all, I have preached five times this weekend. And then, I will expect her to keep the kids at bay while I relax for about an hour. If I am not careful, you see what can happen. I can put my interests and my needs above her interests and her needs. If I am not careful, I can think that I am more important than my wife.
You do the same thing with your parents. When was the last time you helped out around the house without being asked? When was the last time you served your mom or dad and helped them have a relaxing evening? If you are like most teenagers, then you probably think life is all about you. What you want to eat, what you want to do, and where you want to go. That is selfish love, not selfless love.
Love is getting up from the couch and helping with the dishes, even when that is the last thing you want to do.
Love is being patient with your friend even though they are acting like a jerk.
Love is giving a person what they need and not what they deserve.
Isn't that the way God treated us? We deserved death and hell, but God loved us so much that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.
God gives and gives and gives, and we take and take and take. And then we forget what God has given to us, so we turn to those around us, and instead of treating them the way God has treated us, we take from them as well, because after all, it is all about me. That's not being loving.
We are to wake up and ask ourselves, "What can I do for the people that God has placed in my life? How can I put their needs and their interests ahead of my own, just as God has done for me?"
Fill in the following blank. Do I regard ___________________ as more important than myself?
Look up 1 Corinthians 13:4-5. According to this verse, what are some things we do that aren't loving? Write them in the space below.
Out of those five things, which one is the worst for you?
What are you going to do about it?
Write down one nice thing you can do today for someone else. Who will it be for?
What are you going to do for them?
©2024 Sagebrush Church
