Christians with 20/20 spiritual vision need to be farsighted enough to see beyond their present circumstances, and they also need to be nearsighted enough to see the needs around them.
We live in a narcissistic culture, and it’s easy to overlook the needs of those close to us: aging parents, sick neighbors, troubled co-workers, distressed family members.
Worldly Christians are self-focused, ignoring the needs of others and sometimes even adding to the sorrows of those who are hurting.
God calls us to something much higher. He calls us to deny ourselves, to lose our lives (Matthew 16:24-26). He knows that our tendency is look out for our own interests and ignore the needs of others.
Our best example of self-sacrifice is our Lord who lowered Himself to come and save us (Philippians 2:3-7).
When we give up our selfish purposes and seek God’s purposes, we find the true meaning of our lives (Matthew 16:24-26).
Take some time to focus on these passages and improve your spiritual vision:
Matthew 16:24-26: "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?'"
Philippians 2:3-7: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness."
Bible Love Notes
Hi Gail, it is dawning on me that the whole self-esteem issue is mostly a worldly issue and that we are to put others before self. It is not an easy topic to put into black and white as there are so many gray areas. I just read a post about abuse (verbal or otherwise) in marriages and I wonder what the right thing to do is, whilst determining to put the Word first in all things... Just musing...
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Tracy
Good insights and good question, Tracy.
DeleteAs a former believer in self-esteem teachings, I've come a long way in seeing how much they contradict Scripture.
Obviously, any kind of verbal abuse is wrong and against a number of Scriptures, and I'm not sure of the content of the article you read. But I am finding more and more articles excuse the abuser because he/she has a poor self-image. But I never see this excuse for sin in Scripture.
Obviously, the abused spouse might need some therapy to overcome a negative self-image because of her abuse, but even in that, I think the key is esteeming God and developing an honest view of ourselves, not an inflated view.
What do you think?