Selfless or Selfish Living?

 



His Word: I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.    Romans 15:13 (NLT)
Observation & Obedience: Throughout chapter 15, Paul is in sorts conducting relationship counseling with the Roman believers. The Roman church was a diverse community. It was made up of Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free people, rich and poor, strong and weak. And like our churches today, we sometimes have difficulty encouraging, getting along with and accepting one another. 

Paul leads up to our verse for today by giving the Romans advice to follow in order to have God’s hope, joy and peace.  I think we can learn from his teachings and apply them to our own relationships.

1) We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord (vs. 1b-2).  Selfish living and ambition have no place or positive outcome in our relationships. This type of mindset can only hurt and damage the good that God wants to do for others, through us. For even Christ didn’t live to please himself (v. 3a).

2) And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement… May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other (vs. 4b-5a). If our focus is on building others up and not ourselves, we are more apt to recognize the hope, encouragement and patience that come from God. This can make living in harmony with others possible and pleasing to him.

3) Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory (v.7).  Accepting others can be a challenge. We tend to gravitate to people who are like us. Those who look, speak, dress, live and worship like us. The danger in this is that we start to think of ourselves more highly than we should (Romans 12:3) and God does not receive the glory in our relationships, we do.
 
God is the source of our hope, joy and peace. And when we trust him with our relationships, we will overflow with confident hope. Where does this hope come from?

The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to live unselfishly. He’s the one who directs us to those who need our guidance and encouragement. 

It’s the Holy Spirit’s power that makes it possible to live in complete harmony with each other. I think we would all agree that it’s not in our own power to make this happen! 

One of the Holy Spirit’s most difficult challenges is to get us to see the importance of accepting others. By acknowledging that there are differences in people, and that doesn’t necessarily make either one of us better than the other. When we set these differences aside and see people for who they are, not for what they are not, God is blessed and glorified. 

How are your relationships? Do you struggle with selfishness? Do you lack patience with others who don’t agree with you? Do you have a hard time accepting people who are not like you? Remember our key verse from today. God will fill us and our lives with hope, joy and peace when we turn our relationships over to him and trust him completely with them.

Prayer:  “Dear God, I am sorry for the relationships I have tried to control. I can think of many where I was only concerned with my own selfish desires. I want to live in harmony with those you’ve put in my life. Give me the patience and power I need to do this, even when I don’t feel like it!   I choose to build up, share hope and encouragement with and accept others, just as Christ has accepted me and my differences. I trust you with all the relationships in my life. Amen.” 
Encouragement: God never commanded you to trust people; God commanded you to love people and trust him. Know the difference. Your joy and victory depend on it.