A Gift That Keeps on Giving

When Jesus was asked “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Consider the second of these first, knowing it can never be fulfilled until the first is established.

You cannot love yourself in isolation. It involves a transferal of yourself to others.  This makes self-awareness essential in that it enables you to know what gifts and personal attributes you have to give away. This requires getting your mind off yourself and yourself off your mind. We are not to be chalices of blessings, but channels of blessings. Thus, and resulting compliments and praise that comes to us doesn’t cause egotism. Praise that comes to us must flow through us to the one who made it possible, the Lord. Self kept is like manna saved, it spoils.

The moon is a great giver. All of its beauty comes from the reflected rays of the sun. If the sun absorbed those rays and refused to reflect them, it would lose its brilliance. 

The luster of a diamond is a result of the refraction (giving away) of the rays of light that come to it. It is essential that blessings come to us so that we may bless others. Don’t be reluctant to go to the funeral of selfish indulgence instincts.

Happiness is a by-product of self-giving.

The risk in giving yourself to others is rejection and abuse. Candidly, this can be painful. The thing that is more painful is the isolation that comes from not giving yourself away. You are not responsible for acceptance or rejection by others— only the act of self-giving.

The point of beginning is the realization that living such a life can only be overcome by compliance with the first of the greatest commandments, and that is loving the Lord our God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Do you live a God conscious life? That is, do you realize that “ inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”  (Matthew 25: 40)

A “how may I serve you Lord,” life in everyday life amid everyday people makes for a life well lived.

Jim Elliot, missionary martyr, observed, “The man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”