Less Me… More Jesus

I am selfish. There, I said it. Can you relate to this statement? It’s not something I am proud of, but it is something I struggle with on a daily basis. As I go about my day, my eyes can easily become focused on myself. I end up thinking about myself first as I make decisions and interact with the world.  My reactions are, unfortunately, based upon how I perceive someone else’s actions are affecting me. I view all circumstances through the lens of, “How does this affect me and my plans.” That’s a lot of “me” isn’t it?

 

I don’t know about you, but I hardly have to get out of bed in the morning before my flesh starts pulling me toward the propensity of selfishness, and it certainly doesn’t stop as the day goes on. One instance that is fresh on my heart occurred yesterday. We had a busy evening ahead of us. There were more things that needed to be accomplished than we had hours left in the day. I had our evening scheduled out to a “T” and as I picked my children up from school, I was ready to put that plan into action. We hadn’t even made it to the car yet and my kindergartener had a meltdown. Sobbing tears over a paper hat that wouldn’t stand up straight. My immediate response in this situation was selfishness. I sadly fixed my eyes on myself and focused on how his behavior was interfering with my plan, instead of seeing the exhausted, disappointed, sweet child behind the behavior. I missed out on an opportunity to show love because I was so focused on myself and my plan.

 

Instead of reacting to a behavior or situation based on how it is affecting us, how often do we see the person behind it and choose to respond with love? How often in our days do we slow down, set our fragile selves aside, and love people? When I am focused on myself, I find that it is very difficult to love others well, especially in circumstances that don’t necessarily feel good to me.

 

Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments in the law are as follows, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-38)

 

In order to love others well, we need to love them as we love ourselves. How often do we do this?  What I felt the Lord telling me today is that in these situations where I am reacting to someone based on how their behavior is affecting my flesh, I need to stop. I need to change my thinking from, “How do these actions affect me” to “Lord, how do you want me to show Your love to this person in this situation.” As a mentor of mine says, we need to move from self-preservation to self-sacrificing love.

 

As I questioned what this would look like and how I could possibly achieve this in my daily life, it became clear to my heart. I CAN’T. Only HE CAN. And this led me to the greatest commandment. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If my heart, soul, and mind are firmly focused on Christ, and not myself, His love will work through me so that I can love others well.

 

Will you join me in fixing your eyes on Christ FIRST, so that His love can work though us? I don’t know about you, but I certainly need a little less “me” and a whole lot more of Jesus.