“Life’s greatest blessings are found in giving yourself away for the good of others.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 10, 2024
By everything I did, I showed how you should work to help everyone who is weak. Remember that our Lord Jesus said, “More blessings come from giving than from receiving.” Acts 20:35, CEV
As a kid, few things compared to the joy of receiving gifts on a birthday or Christmas morning. Yet, as a parent of three children, I can now say definitively that I find greater joy and delight in giving a birthday or Christmas gift than I ever did in receiving one. There is an incredible blessing that comes from seeing the delight that our actions can bring to someone else, and in many ways this moves us closer to the biblical wisdom contained in Acts 20:35, where we remember the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, “More blessings come from giving than from receiving.”
In many ways, this wisdom is counter-intuitive, revealing the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom. In and of ourselves, we love nothing more than…ourselves! As such, it is remarkably easy to think that the greatest blessings and joys in this life are rooted in our own personal pleasure and satisfaction. One more vacation. One more fancy dinner. One more trip to the spa. This is surely the recipe for a happy and meaningful life.
Yet into this confusion, our Lord Jesus reminds us of the truth that we so often forget, and perhaps only encounter in fleeting moments, such as Christmas morning as a parent. Life’s greatest blessings are found in giving yourself away for the good of others. Though we may struggle to believe this truth in the depths of our hearts, I’ve never once met someone who has taken the words of Jesus to heart and later lived to regret it. No one comes home from spending a day feeding the homeless, only to say, “That wasn’t worth it.” I’ve never once met someone who spent time on a mission trip serving others in the name of Christ who wished they’d instead spent that time and money on themselves. And when a mother and father finally become empty nesters, you would be hard pressed to find one who says their life would have been more meaningful and more deeply blessed had they spent the previous decades tending only to their own personal passions and interests.
No, our lives come alive when we give them away. Our stories find their true meaning when they are bound up in sacrificial love, even and especially when it is profoundly difficult. And so, follow the example of our Lord today and discover the greater blessing that is found when we live for the sake of others!
Prayer
Father, help us believe your word is true, and through our faithful actions, may we discover firsthand the greater blessing that comes when we give our lives away for the good of others. Amen.
Application
What concrete and tangible step of service can you take in your own life this week?
Related Reading
Matthew 23:11; Luke 22:17; John 13:34
Worship Resource
Shane and Shane: Hearts of Servants
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