In today’s society much of the social media and programming is focused on our own personal gratification. The Bible reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:24 – No one should seek their own good; but the good of others. What the Lord is asking us to do, is to not be selfish.
Selfish – a person, action, or motive, lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.
I must confess that many times in my life, I have miserably failed with this as a hearer of the word and not a doer when it comes to this divine commandment. We all like to get our way. It is in our human nature. As recipients of grace we are to let our actions demonstrate the love of God placing the good of others above that of ourselves. This has been a tough thing for me to do at times.
In this modern world we see an opposite view for the most part. In social and commercial media we are encouraged to pamper and live for ourselves first. We are encouraged to take care of ourselves first, placing our own needs and desires first. By keeping our eyes on self and disregarding our Lord’s directive to place others before ourselves, we become blinded from those who need our help and who can assist, encourage and uplift us in return. God did not create us to be isolated; he created us to share the gift that we have been given – Grace.
When we place the good of others before ourselves, those we interact with are able to come face-to-face with our Redeemer. We should have a deep respect for the grace we have been given, sharing love in humility with others by the blood of the Lamb. We cannot just go on our merry way and pretend that we have no responsibility toward others. In grace, the welfare of others is our duty and our responsibility.
We are all aware of our personal rights and the freedom that we have been given in grace. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 8:9 to be careful that the exercise of our rights does not become a stumbling block to others. If we are abounding in grace our attitude should be – “If it offends my brother or sister, I will not do it, even to the end of the earth, I will not offend them or cause them to stumble”. This is seeking the good of others before that of ourselves. God will hold each one of us personally accountable for our actions toward others. With our gift of grace we have been given not only liberty and freedom, but a responsibility as a servant to others needs.
We have a responsibility to hold ourselves to the directive instructed to us in God’s Word. We are to live our lives not for ourselves, but to uplift and encourage others. By denying ourselves we allow the grace of God to overcome our own carnal inclinations to be self-centered. We will never be mindful or aware of the needs of others as long as we focus our eyes in the mirror on ourselves. Grace upon us and working in us will free us from our own selfishness, releasing us to share the hope of glory with others. By being a servant to our families, friends, and neighbors we will be a blessing to them, allowing God to bless us even more than we could ever hope or imagine.
Related articles
- http://www.faithandentertainment.com/77-bible-verses-about-faith-to-encourage-you-today/
- https://darrellcreswell.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/amazing-marvelous-incredible-wonderful-immense-immeasurable-grace/
- Grace enough for you! (rockchristiancenter.com)
- Grace (hisflagministries.wordpress.com)
- Thorns for Grace… (beardedhac.wordpress.com)
- The essential need for God (Grace Sticky Glue) (forthestars.net)
- By the grace of God I am what I am (karebearlv.wordpress.com)
- Are We Walking in the Grace of God? (ginaeleescott.wordpress.com)
- When we receive a revelation of Grace and we are attending a Legalist fellowship. What to do ? (emanuelrendas.wordpress.com)
Categories: Bible, Bible Verses and Scriptures, Christ, Christianity, Compassion, Family, Friends, Giving, God, God's Love, Grace, Jesus, Relationship
Darrell Creswell - A Study of Christian Grace 
as always very good
Thank you so very much, as always Thanks for stopping by and sharing. In Christ Darrell
Thank you Darrell for your prayers for my Mum and myself, she died when I was in Sydney as I shared on my Blog your prayers and those of others who cared were answered in God’s way according to His Loving purposes. He assured me too that Mum would be with Him and then confirmed it. I’m also very thankful her suffering was limited but I do miss her.
Yes as you shared Darrell we are to put others first, to help carry their load and even cry with them and rejoice with them too. Sometimes we may have to warn them they are in danger if they are sinning, God tells us to do this too and we will do so when we have genuine Love and we won’t don’t worry about being rejected for standing up for God’s Truth.
When we repent, which is not only being sorry for our sin but we reject evil and seek to do good by the empowering of The Holy Spirit, God takes our sins as far away from the east is to the west, we are not judged for them, He does not keep a record of our wrongs (1Corinthians 13 )…. How good is that!
Christian Love – Anne
Anne, I appreciate you sharing about your mom. She is in a much better place now. As always Thanks for your insight, your gracious wisdom is always welcome here. In Christ Darrell
That’s so good and so true, there are a lot of “grace movements” in the body of Christ right now, I don’t agree with everything they shout but I think it’s doing a great job of breaking condemnation for many, but the only time I’ve heard these things said is when I read Romans, and Corinthians, it’s all there, and you blogged it amazingly! I feel that, with my experiences anyways, a lot of people are shoving the message of grace down peoples throats just like a religious person would condemn fanatically. What do you think?
Thank for the comment Tasha – I believe that grace is the most powerful force in all of the universe. The one thing about grace is that it cannot be forced on anyone, it has to accepted and received as the gift it is. I stopped by your page at http://forthestars.net/ and enjoyed Grace Sticky glue 🙂 – In Christ Darrell
Thanks I’m glad to have found your blog as well.
🙂
I enjoyed your post, Darrell. This is something that the Lord is speaking to me about lately. Sometimes self-centred feels so ‘normal’ that we don’t even realise we are being that way until God shows us.
I agree Deborah, I am guilty myself, I stopped by your website at http://deborahonline.net/ and read The hardest Thing – enjoyed the post. May the Lord bless you as you spread the message of grace – In Christ Darrell
Jesus
Others
You
Equals
J
O
Y
This post is a blessing.
Thank you Nin, Blessings to you in Christ – Darrell
Yes Darrell, Mum is wonderfully at Peace, Thank you for your uplifting and Loving affirmation, I’m blessed to be able to share with you, your Love for The Lord and others is heart-warming, this is why I have often wanted to spend some time on your Blog just reading your messages but things needed to be done each time I planed to, thankfully I now can take some time out and enjoy them for the next few days.
But before I do Darrell, I have something very important to share with you just in case you feel the same as one of my Spam, it said that my wordage or something like that was not long enough, after I stopped laughing I thought, they may be right, so expect much more detail in my comments when I visit with you in the future but please feel free to let me know if you still feel as my Spam friend does and I will seek to multiply 🙄
Christian Love – Anne.
I look forward to all your comments Anne, you are truly a blessing, in Christ Darrell
Amen!
Thanks for stopping by Stephen, Blessings to you in the name of our Lord, In Christ Darrell
🙂
Amen Indeed 🙂 -Thanks Stephen In Christ Darrell
I still sometimes fail at this Darrell. Good message thank you. Blessings to you and Gracie.
We all do Belinda – Thank God for grace 🙂 Darrell
Just completed a tour of Greece and Turkey tracing some of the steps of Paul and John and now returning to blogging and reading blogs. Amen Paul and John taught us to me mindful of God and others and not to be totally consumed with self. A valuable lesson you have shared Darrell. Thanks.and may I share with others on my blog?
Of course, glad you are back 🙂 – Blessings Darrell
This was a very timely and annointed post that I needed to read today! Thank you! By the way, I am amazed that you are not reaching more people but I think that it might be because your link is not on your Gravatar page (when people click on your name/photo) the address to your blog does not automatically come up. A lot of people don’t know that this is the way we find each other. They have to cut and paste your name after the backslash and then add wordpress.com to even get to your page. A lot of people don’t know how to do that so if your blog does not automatically pop up, a lot of people just move on to the next blog! I feel that many are missing out on your annointed words by this little glitch.
Thanks for stopping by Diane, I will work on that. I read The Other Side Of The Fence at http://dianereedwiter.wordpress.com/ and enjoyed it. Appreciate the comment. – In Christ Darrell
whoops I forgot to provide you with a great tutorial that I reblogged on my blog
http://dianereedwiter.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/gravitar-links/
So for instance if you click on your name in the replies your blog link will come up… but if you LIKE something and someone clicks on just your picture… your gravatar is not linked to your address. Not sure that makes any sense at all lol… check it out. The link above explains it more. By the way the guy is not a beliver that provided the tutorial but I feel the more believers that connect with some of the non believers… the better!
God bless your work and words!
Diane
Got It Dianne, Thanks – In Christ Darrell