Be Committed To Others
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7
While the Bible clearly teaches self-worth, it also denounces self-interest. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said that we were to love God with all our hearts, and love others with the same concern that we show for ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). When we obsess over ourselves, we lose the meaning of life, which is to love and serve God, and love and serve our neighbors (anyone in need). In a 2003 report, ‘Hardwired to Connect’, 33 research scientists discovered that we are biologically primed to find meaning through relationships. Chuck Colson said: ‘After nearly eight decades of living, I can vouch for this. My single greatest joy is giving myself to others and seeing them grow in return. You cannot discover that without commitment. I first learned it by watching my parents care for my dying grandparents in our home… l later saw it in the Marine Corps. You cannot go into combat, commanding 45 men as I was trained to do, if you weren’t committed to one another. You were going to die if the man next to you did not cover your back… By abandoning commitment, our narcissistic culture has lost the one thing it desperately seeks: happiness. Without commitment, our individual lives will be barren and sterile. Without commitment, our lives will lack meaning and purpose. After all, if nothing is worth dying for, then nothing is worth living for. Jesus taught that the only way to live abundantly is to die to self-interest and give yourself fully to God, and to those who need what God has given you.’
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me be and remain faithful to my commitments to others that You have placed in my path. In Jesus’ Name, Amen