I have to be honest here, I am a REALLY selfish person. It's something I struggle with on a daily basis. With God's help I'm getting better...but sometimes that old selfish devil can really get his hands on my heart! What does that have to do with the title of this post? Well let me tell you...
I've been listening to Charles Swindoll a LOT latetly (that drive to Pittsburg has been a good thing for my spiritual life!). He's doing a study on the life of Joseph and today he spoke about Reaping the Rewards of Righteousness. It was all about how Joseph went from absolutely nothing, a prisoner in an Egyptian dungeon, to the second highest official in the entire nation in a matter of hours (maybe even minutes). Swindoll's point was that most people didn't know where he came from, they didn't know his story. To them he was just some upstart kid who got a lucky break. The old, "it's not what you know, it's who you know" thing probably was a common thought. They didn't think well of him. They didn't offer congratulations and accolades. They didn't say "this guy is going to do great things for God, I'm really glad he got blessed like that." No, they probably didn't. Instead they probably grumbled, complained and generally made snide and suspicious remarks about this new kid. And then Swindoll brought it around to us, in this day. He asked how affirming are we of others in our midst. He posed the question in two parts. One, how affirming are we of those in need. Well, as a whole, the church is very affirming of those kinds of people. Those are the missionaries who live on nothing, the people in China forced to worship in secret, and the lady down the street who just found out she has cancer. We are almost always affirming of them and their plights. But what about those who receive promotions? What about those who are exceedingly wealthy? What about those people who just seem to have the "Midas Touch"? How affirming are we of them?
I don't know why, but that message just really touched me today. Maybe it's because I am such a selfish individual. I'd really like all the glory for myself. I want everyone to notice me, not the person down the hall or across the aisle. God really hit me with this today, and I want to try to live my life as someone who looks for the good in EVERYONE. I don't want to search for ulterior motives when someone does something really extravagant for God and His church. I want to say "Thank You! May God bless you with even more generosity than you have already shown!" I want to be happy when people come into their fortune, not jealous because it wasn't me. I really want to be someone who loves everyone, no matter how much money they do or don't have. I really want to be a bigger person, I want to have true JOY and that means putting Jesus first, Others second and You (myself) last. It's a tall order, but I'm positive that God and I can do it together!
