A few days ago, I was thinking about the blessing that comes through being unselfish.
Have you ever been on the precipice of beginning something new and big, and full of really hard work? Has God ever called you to serve Him in a way that required you to lay down your own comfort for the sake of His kingdom?
I have been there before, and I find myself there now as the Lord is calling me and my family into a new, special task for Him. We know it will be incredibly difficult. We know it will take all of our time and effort. We know it will change the course of our daily life, for the foreseeable future.
And yet, in the calm morning before our new task began, I found myself full to the brim of a strange joy. As I thanked God for the opportunity to serve Him, unmistakable tranquility hovered. Where God asks us to give up ourselves, God provides His very own riches in return.
There was one who was called by the Father to give up everything He had for the sake of the kingdom. Jesus emptied Himself of glory and became obedient to death. And God paid it back to Him and so much more, raising Him up from the dead and giving Jesus the name that is above every name! He made Earth His footstool.
In every task we undertake to empty ourselves in favor of the will of God, we count it a joy to identify with Christ. We are following in the footsteps of the forerunner of our faith.
Let us pray that God will be so real to us, that His promises will be so sure and unshakeable to us, “that the tested genuineness of our faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7)
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2
