Thursday, May 2, 2013
Love is Not Selfish - Day 3 - Romans 12:10
11:37 PM | 
Posted by
Dvlstx |
Love is Not Selfish. We come to the one that strikes fear into everyone's heart. After all aren't we all selfish by our very nature? There isn't one person I have ever met that is completely selfless. It might be the simplest thing, but deep down there is a selfish nature within all of us. So, what does this mean for love? Only bad things can come from a selfish nature existing in a love relationship.
Romans 12:10
NLT - "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
NASB - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;"
The Message (a snippet) - "...practice playing second fiddle."
NIV - "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."
We have all heard of selfishness, we all practice selfishness, we all are selfish. And if you are thinking for one second that you aren't, thing about this question, "Could you give away ANYTHING you have to someone else and not feel a single sense of loss?" I am sure everyone could give away some things, but there are things that we have that we just couldn't do without. Take that coveted cell phone. Are you so tied to your cell phone that you just could never part with it, even if someone else needed it more? How about money? Are you so selfish with your money that you could never give any of it away? I bet you didn't think that you could be selfish about money did you?
Everything we have in this world, we have the innate ability to be selfish about. So, when it comes to Love, selfishness has no place in a love relationship. Sure we can have our times to be selfish to some degree (taking time for ourselves, etc...) but selfishness should not permeate our lives so much that our relationship with our spouse becomes alienated.
When was the last time that you thought first about your spouse and second about yourself? When was the last time you put your needs and wants second to the needs and wants of your spouse? When was the last time you played the second fiddle?
Take some time to reflect upon some times in your relationship, and think about some of the times when you were selfish. If you now think about that incident in the context of what God is saying above, do you think, if you had a second chance, you might do something different? It is so easy in this world to be engrossed in our own selfishness that we find it hard to look at ourselves in this light. We find it hard to come to grips with the fact that we are selfish. And even harder, we find it next to impossible to get away from our selfishness.
Put yourself I your spouses shoes next time when they are wanting to do something and you are getting a feeling of being selfish. Think about what your selfish attitude will bring to your love for each other. This selfishness can break apart relationships.
We are selfish beings. There is nothing more to it than that. but, be careful with your selfishness. There is a time and a place when it is ok to be selfish. But our selfishness should not drive how we act towards our spouse.
How have you acted today? Have you been integrated with your own selfishness, or have you taken time to be selfless in your relationsip?
>
Romans 12:10
NLT - "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
NASB - "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;"
The Message (a snippet) - "...practice playing second fiddle."
NIV - "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."
We have all heard of selfishness, we all practice selfishness, we all are selfish. And if you are thinking for one second that you aren't, thing about this question, "Could you give away ANYTHING you have to someone else and not feel a single sense of loss?" I am sure everyone could give away some things, but there are things that we have that we just couldn't do without. Take that coveted cell phone. Are you so tied to your cell phone that you just could never part with it, even if someone else needed it more? How about money? Are you so selfish with your money that you could never give any of it away? I bet you didn't think that you could be selfish about money did you?
Everything we have in this world, we have the innate ability to be selfish about. So, when it comes to Love, selfishness has no place in a love relationship. Sure we can have our times to be selfish to some degree (taking time for ourselves, etc...) but selfishness should not permeate our lives so much that our relationship with our spouse becomes alienated.
When was the last time that you thought first about your spouse and second about yourself? When was the last time you put your needs and wants second to the needs and wants of your spouse? When was the last time you played the second fiddle?
Take some time to reflect upon some times in your relationship, and think about some of the times when you were selfish. If you now think about that incident in the context of what God is saying above, do you think, if you had a second chance, you might do something different? It is so easy in this world to be engrossed in our own selfishness that we find it hard to look at ourselves in this light. We find it hard to come to grips with the fact that we are selfish. And even harder, we find it next to impossible to get away from our selfishness.
Put yourself I your spouses shoes next time when they are wanting to do something and you are getting a feeling of being selfish. Think about what your selfish attitude will bring to your love for each other. This selfishness can break apart relationships.
We are selfish beings. There is nothing more to it than that. but, be careful with your selfishness. There is a time and a place when it is ok to be selfish. But our selfishness should not drive how we act towards our spouse.
How have you acted today? Have you been integrated with your own selfishness, or have you taken time to be selfless in your relationsip?
>
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