I Corinthians 13:1-13: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, [and] is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.
If you ever look up the definition of the word selfishness you will find that Webster defined it as, concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others. He also defined being self-centered as, concerned solely with one's own desires, needs, or interests.
Now let’s be completely honest, we have all at one time or another been selfish or self-centered, and in some cases, although there are very few, people have a right to be a little selfish. There are times in life when all the attention should be focused on you, whether it be your birthday, your graduation, or your wedding, etc. These are moments in your life that you should be able to shine above all else and stand out without anyone else trying to take your spotlight. But as we all know, there are those who, whether they do it consciously or not, will always find away to make everything about them.
It is these people who in all reality care about nothing but themselves, even though on the outside they try to act like they spend their entire life doing nothing but caring for others. It is as though they think that five minutes or maybe even a couple of weeks or months, if they can make it that long, of normal activity on their part should be able to undo years of their narcissistic lifestyle.
I have just about reached my limit with all the people who want to act like they care for you and love you so much, but when it’s time for the words to take for and action to be taken, everything all of a sudden changes. In biblical times they did not use words like self-centered, self-absorbed, instead those who acted that way were called hypocrites. Webster’s definition of a hypocrite, 1:a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2:a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
All my life I have seen these people who will talk the talk and walk the walk when they’re around certain people, or when they think it may get back to a certain person, but as soon as they are no longer around that certain crowd they are a completely different person. This is anything by true Christianity. To be a Christian is to be Christ-like, and while that is what we like to think we are portraying, we fall so short! Even in our daily prayers, have you ever counted how many times you say the word “I” or “me”? God help me to...so that I may...give me the...and I will...etc. While we may be praying for God to bless us and help us, we need to learn to drop the singularities as we pray and begin praying as a body, God help us today....so that we may...etc. The more “I’s” and “me’s” we drop the more God and see that it’s not all about us, but about his church body as a whole. And maybe then we will be able to lose some of the selfish, self-centeredness, that seems to consume our families, our friendships, our churches, and our world!!!
Where is the “Charity” or for better use the “Love”? If you truly love as Christ has commanded, then you should have no room in your heart or your life for selfishness, or self-centeredness. John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. God has commanded us to love one another multiple times throughout the bible, but it seems as though that is one of those commandments that we just want to sort of overlook, or we try to justify our way out of it. Well I don’t love her because she...or I can’t love him because he...or even worse, we say that we love them with our mouths, but our actions and deeds say a completely different thing. I often think that people forget that in order for people to actually believe what you say you have to put some sort of action behind your words! Do not think that people should be able to know what you are feeling or thinking just because you want them to, we are not mind readers, if you have a problem then get it out, talk about it, confront the person, don’t sit and stew over it for days and in some cases years. Trust me the only one you are hurting is yourself, because unless you have expressed your feelings to the other person, they have no idea of the situation and it does not affect their life in the least. They don’t lose sleep, you do, they are not the ones who have lost their appetite, you are, so the only person you are really punishing is yourself.
I guess I’m just fed up with all the me, me, me, I, I, I, then the talk, talk, talk, without their ever being any action to the contrary. So let me break it down for you, it’s not all about you or me, and words are just that empty nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives that roll off your tongue unless you put some action behind them!!!
If you ever look up the definition of the word selfishness you will find that Webster defined it as, concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others. He also defined being self-centered as, concerned solely with one's own desires, needs, or interests.
Now let’s be completely honest, we have all at one time or another been selfish or self-centered, and in some cases, although there are very few, people have a right to be a little selfish. There are times in life when all the attention should be focused on you, whether it be your birthday, your graduation, or your wedding, etc. These are moments in your life that you should be able to shine above all else and stand out without anyone else trying to take your spotlight. But as we all know, there are those who, whether they do it consciously or not, will always find away to make everything about them.
It is these people who in all reality care about nothing but themselves, even though on the outside they try to act like they spend their entire life doing nothing but caring for others. It is as though they think that five minutes or maybe even a couple of weeks or months, if they can make it that long, of normal activity on their part should be able to undo years of their narcissistic lifestyle.
I have just about reached my limit with all the people who want to act like they care for you and love you so much, but when it’s time for the words to take for and action to be taken, everything all of a sudden changes. In biblical times they did not use words like self-centered, self-absorbed, instead those who acted that way were called hypocrites. Webster’s definition of a hypocrite, 1:a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2:a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
All my life I have seen these people who will talk the talk and walk the walk when they’re around certain people, or when they think it may get back to a certain person, but as soon as they are no longer around that certain crowd they are a completely different person. This is anything by true Christianity. To be a Christian is to be Christ-like, and while that is what we like to think we are portraying, we fall so short! Even in our daily prayers, have you ever counted how many times you say the word “I” or “me”? God help me to...so that I may...give me the...and I will...etc. While we may be praying for God to bless us and help us, we need to learn to drop the singularities as we pray and begin praying as a body, God help us today....so that we may...etc. The more “I’s” and “me’s” we drop the more God and see that it’s not all about us, but about his church body as a whole. And maybe then we will be able to lose some of the selfish, self-centeredness, that seems to consume our families, our friendships, our churches, and our world!!!
Where is the “Charity” or for better use the “Love”? If you truly love as Christ has commanded, then you should have no room in your heart or your life for selfishness, or self-centeredness. John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. God has commanded us to love one another multiple times throughout the bible, but it seems as though that is one of those commandments that we just want to sort of overlook, or we try to justify our way out of it. Well I don’t love her because she...or I can’t love him because he...or even worse, we say that we love them with our mouths, but our actions and deeds say a completely different thing. I often think that people forget that in order for people to actually believe what you say you have to put some sort of action behind your words! Do not think that people should be able to know what you are feeling or thinking just because you want them to, we are not mind readers, if you have a problem then get it out, talk about it, confront the person, don’t sit and stew over it for days and in some cases years. Trust me the only one you are hurting is yourself, because unless you have expressed your feelings to the other person, they have no idea of the situation and it does not affect their life in the least. They don’t lose sleep, you do, they are not the ones who have lost their appetite, you are, so the only person you are really punishing is yourself.
I guess I’m just fed up with all the me, me, me, I, I, I, then the talk, talk, talk, without their ever being any action to the contrary. So let me break it down for you, it’s not all about you or me, and words are just that empty nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives that roll off your tongue unless you put some action behind them!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment