Life is to be lived for others
2020 could be summed up with one word, isolation. The pandemic caused isolation on earth like we have never seen. All gatherings were shut down, from family gatherings to church to school to events. Isolation battles the ability to live for others, the exact thing we need in life.
In Genesis 11, the people of the earth band together in unity to create a tower. They become unified toward a common goal. Seems awesome, right? A team of people working as one can do incredible things. However, somewhere along the way, the people got off track. The Bible points out an issue with this group that every person on earth battles today.
Genesis 11:4 – Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
The reason for the building of the tower was clear, to “make a name for ourselves.” They wanted to receive glory, to be made famous, to be known by their fellow man. The desire to be known by others, to be recognized, continues to rage today.
This desire takes many different forms. Take social media. We crave “likes.” The more likes, the more famous you are. The goal is attention. Everyone look at me and how awesome I am. How about your job? We want a title, accolades, power, recognition, a pat on the back by someone telling us how awesome we are. We want others to look at us and glorify who we are, what we have done. And kids? Listen to parents. My child is the best reader, athlete, earliest walker, has the best job, you name it. We desire our child to be the best. Why? So we will be glorified among our peers. No person or area of life is immune to this desire. Good work often starts out honorable, but ends up focused on self-glorification.
The Bible consistently teaches us to live a selfless life, focused on others. Right after the tower mentioned above, God speaks to Abraham. He tells Abraham that he is going to be blessed so that he can be a blessing to others. Was Abraham going to be famous? Sure, but the reason for it was to bless other people. At the last supper with his disciples, Jesus washed their feet. Then, he said in John 13:14, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” Jesus lived an unbelievable selfless life, completely focused on others.
Moses is arguably the greatest leader who ever lived. He rescued and led several million people out of slavery in Egypt. Think he was famous? If anyone had an opportunity to glorify themselves, it was Moses. However, the Bible says that Moses “was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth,” (Numbers 12:3). Moses was humble, living a life for others.
Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will help enough other people get what they want.” Summary. Focus on others.
Especially as we live in isolation, we will all fight the urge to focus inwardly on ourselves. So, practically, how do we battle the urge of focusing on ourselves?
A great place to start is by looking at your resolutions or goals that you have for the new year. Flip every goal to other people. If you can’t, the goal isn’t worth your time or your focus. So, if you have a goal of eating healthy, make the goal about other people. State the goal as, “I want to eat healthy for the ultimate benefit of my kids.” Make sure the motive is about others. If the motive is on yourself, probably not worth your time.
Ultimately, as God told Abraham, we are blessed to bless other people. Let any blessing, any good work that you do this year be about other people so that you rightly glorify your Creator.
Matthew 5:16 – “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Impact others. Live generously.
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