Get busy living or get busy dying…but don’t fall out, boy
Once upon a time in a land far-far away (literally) someone called me ”selfish”…I remember it like it was yesterday.
*Insert solemn scratchy violin music here*
Perhaps it continues to remain in my memory because of how offended I was at something that, at the time, I felt was way off base. It did however send me on a less than expected proverbial path of figuring out what living “unselfishly” looks (and feels) like. Eventually you run up against the question of “is it even possible to truly live without some level of selfishness?”.
Many times in the past I’ve read (and heard used over and over) the verse, Philippians 1:21 which states “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” I’ll be honest – I never really knew what it meant. So, I simply threw it into the pile of under-used/over-stated, hey-look-at-me-I’m-a-Christian-because-I-can-quote-stuff, soundbite verses we like to throw around in a non-impressive general fashion.
*enter insightful moment music here*
If you think about it we’re technically born selfish. We are completely dependant on another for food, clean clothing, shelter, and burping. When we didn’t have any of the above we let the world know. Quickly. And loudly. The lack of our “needs” drove us to make noise and let someone know. However, If at the time we had the knowledge that our parents weren’t going to let our needs go unmet perhaps the outcome (every 5 minutes) would be different. And more quiet.
Later on down the road we as adults have our selfishness rooted in and driven by fear; a fear that says our needs right now are going to go unmet. Because of this fear we react and begin to gather (at any cost) whatever it is we think our needs are. Some needs are real. Some are conceptual. Some are physical things. Some are not physical things. The bottom line is, we’re afraid we will run out of whatever it is we don’t want to run out of.
Somewhere along the way we forgot about principles. Principles which state how things are and what we can count on. Principles like “To live is to act like Christ and to die to oneself is also to our gain.”
Jesus gave everything, including his life, to his and our benefit. He gave, and gave, and gave, and gave, and gave and never ran out. So why do we think we will “run out”? Why do we forget about Colossians 1:27? (I know, I know…go look it up) We feel as though if we continue to give, and continue to get walked over, and continue to lose our arguments with others we will somehow end up worse than dead…if that’s even possible. Our relationships with others can highlight this feeling.
Speaking of relationships, take the following for example to highlight this principle: marriage is to be reflective of Christ’s relationship with the church. Christ came to serve. He even gave his life up for the church. A church that, In fact, killed him. However, with His death came gain to humanity. His serving and the pouring out of himself brought restoration with almighty God in the end. Ultimate sacrifice equaled ultimate restoration.
Hello principle.
To live is Christ. To die is gain.
If what we’re after is ultimate restoration then the principle says selfishness and the hording of ourselves and our things get in the way of what we actually want. Selfishness gets us tangled in a lie. A lie that says hoard unto yourself to gain rather than give of yourself to gain.
