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Monday, March 5, 2012

The Paradox of Life

Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.Philippians 2:2-4The paradox of life is that by giving, we receive; by sacrificing, we gain; and by putting others first, we feel fulfilled. Some people get it: It’s not all about us. Newborn babies certainly don’t have much success or many skills to offer, but they give their mothers and fathers tremendous joy. Employers who celebrate their people’s successes more than their own reap the joy of their employees’ smiles and greater productivity, the natural product of feeling affirmed. One of my favorite motivational speakers has a saying, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want”. Sound selfish? Not if you approach this with the correct motivation. As the Scripture above suggests, we can only experience this paradox when we start at the right point: “lowliness of mind”. Thinking properly about ourselves if the first step. Instead of selfish ambition to achieve status, we feel secure in God’s love. Instead of conceit that we’re better than others, we value others highly. Some people confuse humility with shame, but humility doesn’t mean we despise ourselves and demean our abilities. Instead, it means that we see our abilities as gifts from God to be used to build others up and accomplish His purposes. As we see all we have and all we are as gifts from God, we can stop promoting or defending ourselves, and we can focus our attention on others around us. Their needs become important to us. That’s how Christ lived, and as we walk with Him, that’s how we’ll live too.Why, do you think, are most people (including many Christians) so self-focused? Do you need to be less self-focused? What would it take for you to begin living this paradox today? How would it improve your relationships with others and with God? If you receive value from these blogs, please consider donating to keep this blog site up and running. This ministry cannot continue without the generous donations of its readers. Just click on the "Donate" button in the upper right. For more info on help I can provide check out http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com

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