Archive for September, 2022
Land of the Pilgrims’ Pride 11/22/98
Psalm 100:4 – 5
Page 886 Come Alive Bible
Jesus Christ taught us to pray. In the model He gave us is a symphony of praise and thanks: “FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER.”
We are so blessed we have reason to pause and thank Him. Let our hearts and voice resound with songs of praise:
“My country, ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountain side let freedom ring!
Our fathers’ God, to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might, Great God our King!”
Our Lord desires and deserves our thanks. Our Pilgrim predecessors modeled it for us.
The Scripture says: “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).
Note, “in everything give thanks.” Our response is a one word question, “everything?” Giving thanks is an act of the will. Feeling thankful is an act of the emotions. The text does not say in everything we should feel thankful. We simply don’t. However, we are inclined to give thanks once we become convinced of the truth in Romans 8: 28:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
With that reference point we can give thanks. It must be readily conceded that at times circumstances don’t dictate a spontaneous desire to give thanks. Retrospect often gives reason to have done so.
Consider the Pilgrims progress and see if stages of their advance automatically called forth thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims were political refugees fleeing religious persecution. Having moved from their native England to Holland to avoid further persecution they soon found themselves isolated on the continent of Europe. There children were beginning to adopt the frivolous manners of the Dutch. In this could they give thanks? Yes! However, they didn’t feel thankful. They simply found in it reason to accept an offer by a group of English investors to fund a voyage to the new world. In exchange they promised their benefactors, the Merchant Adventurers, to work for them for seven years.
In July of 1620, they set sail on the Mayflower and the Speedwell. About 300 miles out to sea the Speedwell sprang a threatening leak necessitating a return to England. Could they now give thanks? Yes! However, you can well imagine emotionally they weren’t feeling thankful.
On September 6, 1620, after one aborted attempt, they crowded onto one ship and set out on their 65 day voyage to the new world. There were 44 Pilgrims and 66 persons known as “Strangers.” Their long and arduous journey caused sickness and death. Could they give thanks? Yes, but you can be sure they weren’t emotionally feeling thankful.
Their dread fear on the journey was of the Native Americans and potential deadly conflicts with them.
On November 11 a small party went ashore looking for food. They happened upon a Nauset Indian grave yard where they found baskets of corn which had been left as a gift to the dead. Their gathering of this unexpected bounty was interrupted by the angry Nauset warriors protecting their burial grounds.
At about this same time British merchant ships had captured some Native Americans and sold them in Spain as slaves. One was named Squanto. He worked his way to England and eventually back to his native land. Upon his return he learned all the members of his tribe had contracted a “white man’s disease” and died. He went to live as a “ghost” with another tribe.
On November 10 land was spotted. However, the Pilgrims didn’t land there they sailed on to Plymouth where they were greeted by the friendly Patuxet Indians.
That first harsh winter in their new land only 50 of their number survived. Could they give thanks? Yes! You can be sure they weren’t emotionally feeling thankful.
The next Spring a Native American named Samoset stepped from the forest and in broken English said, “Welcome, Englishmen.” He had learned a bit of English from traders along the coast. After an overnight visit he disappeared. Was it a trick by a scout sent to penetrate their ranks in preparation for an attack? Could they now give thanks? Yes! Still no emotional thankfulness however.
Soon Samoset returned with another Native American. His name, Squanto. The Native American sold as a slave in Spain had learned good English in the home land of the Pilgrims. Could they give thanks now? Yes. Now, they even had reason to feel thankful.
Squanto taught them how to tap maple trees for syrup, what plants were poisonous, and how to plant corn.
Out of hearts of thanksgiving in 1621 the Pilgrims met with 90 Wampanoag Indians for a time of thanksgiving. For three days they celebrated and feasted on clams, corn, codfish, geese, ducks, turkey, eel, bass, barley, venison, and corn bread.
This was the land of the Pilgrims’ pride.
Two years later in 1623 a drought threatened the Pilgrims. Governor Bradford issued a proclamation on November 29 that all the people should gather in the meeting house to “listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye God for all His blessings.” Before the meetings were held rains came and the services became times of thanksgiving.
In 1789 President George Washington issued a Thanksgiving proclamation setting the last Thursday of November as a time of giving thanks for the new Constitution.
In 1863 Sarah Joseph Hale, author of the well known poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” persuaded President Lincoln to establish a day of Thanksgiving. The fourth Thursday of November was set.
In 1941 Congress established the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday of Thanksgiving.
President Washington’s proclamation contained in part the following:
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of All Mighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor, to pardon our national and other transgressions, to render our National Government a blessing to all of the people by being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discretely and faithfully executed and obeyed.”
Residents of the Land of the Pilgrims’ pride had reason for giving thanks and they did.
Thanksgiving is an act of the will. It comes from a certain mind-set. What is your mind-set? What ever it is you have trained yourself to have it. You can retrain yourself. For many reasons you will benefit by training yourself to be a grateful person.
King Alfonso XII of Spain was a devout Christian. It was called to his attention that the pages in his court were acting as ingrates and not expressing thanks before their meals. He invited them to a banquet. The table was lavish with varied foods. During the meal a meagerly dressed beggar entered and seated himself at the head table. He ate like a starving man. Got up and walked out without a word. At first there was a murmur among the pages then a critical complaint about the ill mannered stranger who did not express his gratitude.
Then King Alfonso spoke, “Bolder and more audacious than this beggar have all you been. Every day you sit down at a table supplied by the bounty of your Heavenly Father, yet you ask not His blessings or express your gratitude.” Gratitude to our Heavenly Father needs to be expressed far more than we do.
Find ways to say thanks. A little boy visiting his grandmother tried to show his thanks by making her a cup of coffee. It was undoubtly the worst cup of coffee she ever had, but she didn’t indicate it. As she was finishing she saw three of the child’s three little green Army men in the bottom of her cup. Before she realized it she blurted, “What is the meaning of this?”
The child replied, “You know, Grandmother, like it says on TV —- ‘the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup.’”
Hans Selye in his book, The Stress of Life,” says research proves gratitude is the healthiest of emotions and revenge the most unhealthy.
Colossians 2: 6, 7 gives a model of proper praise and thanksgiving: “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6, 7).
Three things are noted in this text in present voice, meaning we are to continue to do them.
They are:
EDIFICATION. In the word can be heard our word edifice which is a building. If you edify someone you build them up. When a person has the right regard for others there is no difficulty in “esteeming others better than self.” This is no self-put-down.
ESTABLISHMENT – “in faith.” Faith creates a spirit of praise. Train yourself to give thanks. Your day may begin and continue in a certain manner, but thanks can lift you up. Even though I clutch my blanket and groan when the alarm rings each morning, Thank you Lord, that I can hear it.
Even though I keep my eyes closed against the morning light as long as possible, Thank you Lord, I can see.
Even though I curl up in my bed and offer resistance against rising, Thank you Lord, I have the strength to rise.
Even though the first hour of my day is hectic, when one sock is missing, toast is burned, tempers are short, Thank you Lord for understanding friends and family.
Even though my table doesn’t look like one in a magazine and the menu is at time unbalanced, Thank you Lord, I have food.
Even though the routine of my job is at times monotonous, Thank you Lord, I have a job.
Thank you Lord for the gift of life.
You can find something for which to thank the Lord. Consider: a good yawn with a stretch. That’s so good. It deserves a thanks. A reachable itch that can be scratched. Knowing the answer to the quiz show question and answering before anyone in the room. A parking meter with time remaining on it. Hearing the laughter of a friend.
Have you thanked God for your financial and physical resources?
“…it is He who gives you power to get wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8: 18).
Sacrifice your ego and thank Him.
What would be your answer if the Lord were to ask you, “What have you done with the resources I have given you?”
One reason our Lord ask us to give in His name is to allow us to demonstrate our faith. When we give we acknowledge it all comes from Him and we are dependent upon Him.
Often it is said, “The church is always asking for money.” Not so, it is the world that constantly asks for money. The check-out clerk at the grocery store always asks for money. The mortgage company always wants money.
If you are like most folks each month you get a number of letters with windows containing bills. Are any of them from the church?
Who withholds a portion of every dollar you earn? It is not your Heavenly Father, but your Uncle Sam.
There are no free-lunches except at church. The price of admission and the cost of a seat hasn’t gone up in ages. The church offers free counseling, hospital visits, and a free newsletter without a subscription notice asking for money.
When a loved one dies the funeral home wants money. There is no charge at church.
You have to pay taxes to provide your child free public education, but your church Sunday School provides free Christian education at absolutely no charge.
The church requires no membership dues, no annual fee and never sends a bill. No other organization in the world operates that way.
The church exists to lovingly provide the love of Jesus. Any money given is voluntary and goes to provide ministries in His name. It constantly provides ministries without looking to see if the recipient has given anything or not.
EFFULGENCE – “abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
The Bible speaks of a “sacrifice of praise.” Sometimes we don’t feel thankful but we give thanks. When you praise someone or express thanks you sacrifice your ego. In giving thanks we are saying you did something for me and I grateful.
Have you thanked God for the people in your life? Have you affirmed your spouse, children, siblings, and friends? Have you sacrificed your ego enough to say “thanks.”
The people around you are all “possibilitiarians.” That is, they have the possibility of becoming someone wonderful. You can encourage them on their pilgrimage.
It is estimated that 6 of every 10 people who attend church come with a burden. What atmosphere do you help create to encourage them?
The text says we are to be “rooted.” That is perfect passive, meaning there is a time when we become once and for all rooted. That moment is when we trust Christ as Savior. Have you thanked God the Father for Christ? Has this expression of thanks been in the form of faith in Him as Savior? What do you believe?
Don Quixote said, “I have never had the courage to believe nothing.”
The Royal Order of the Towel
On my desk is a trophy for which I am grateful. It was given to me when I was inducted into the Fellowship of Christians National Hall of Champions. It is not the typical trophy. The 3-D brass figure depicts Jesus washing one of the disciples’ feet. The inscription on the base reads: “… Jesus… If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9: 38) There is a lesson for life.
To be the servant of Jesus it is essential to understand what that means. It means you change your way of thinking from a “me” centered mentality to a “He” centered way of thinking. It is not about me, it is about Him. Your life must become Christocentric.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” (Matthew 10:24)
To be a servant of Jesus one must be resolute. That is, to determine to be a servant and be resolute in doing it. A good servant is not a herky-jerky, hot or cold one, but a consistently full time resolute servant. A secondary “How may I serve you,” is replaced by a “How may I serve Him” by what I say or do in this situation.
To be a good servant of the Lord you must be a true disciple, that is a learner. It is simple, do what He says. To do so you must know. To know you must study His word.
“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!” James 1:22 (MSG)
To be a good servant of the Lord bloom where you are planted. That means to start serving others right around you now. Let them see Jesus in you.
In the “class” where Jesus taught His followers by using an in class example of washing others dirty feet, He did not say do what I have done, that is wash others feet. He said do as I have done, that is humble yourself in whatever way possible and serve others. To simply ceremoniously wash someone’s feet is to miss the message.
As further evidence this is the meaning of what He was teaching He said, “What I am doing you do not understand now….” They understood He was washing feet, but they did not understand He was teaching humility and service to others. Then came the maximum example of humility”
“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2: 8)
In a fine restaurant waiters often have a towel draped on their arm indicating they are there to serve. Using that imagery of a servant joining the “Royal Order of the Towel.”
God, the Sandman
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”
Psalm 139: 17, 18
Many passages in the Bible are directed to specific people and incidents, but are applicable to all of us. This is one such passage.
Imagine a child playing in a sandbox. God’s thoughts of you are more numerous than all the sand in the box.
Reflect of a broad sandy beach. God’s thoughts of you are more numerous than that.
The Psalmist’s imagery is even larger than that. He was in the vast Judean sandy desert. The point is God thinks of you— a lot, actually always.
What He thinks is like that expressed by Jeremiah, “My thoughts towards you are good, not evil.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
As a child it often scared me to think God sees, or knows, what I was doing. Wow! Then one day it dawned on my childish mind, that’s good. It means He knows when I am in danger, or need, or am downcast. Being a loving God He knows and cares.
As an initiation right into some youth groups there is a test for courage. A rope was suspended from a tall water tank. The initiate was blindfolded and instructed to take a hold on the rope to be pulled up to the tank. The person holding the rope was pulled up a few feet. A strange thing is a person blindfolded can’t tell the difference between going up or down. The process involved pulling the person up a few feet and then lowering them. The sensation was always the same, up. The person would hold on to the rope for dear life, but inevitably would become exhausted, turn loose of the rope and think they were falling a great distance only to find they were just a few feet from the ground which was right there all the time.
Our sensation at times may give us the feeling God is going to let us fall, and He has been there all the time, our sure foundation.
God is the supernatural multitasker. He can think of all of us all the time.
There is a song with this line: “He knew me, yet he loved me
He whose glory makes the heavens shine So unworthy of such mercy
Yet when he was on the cross I was on his mind.
Yet when he was on the cross I was on his mind.”
God thinks of you all the time. How often do you think of Him? A person can’t go around thinking about God all the time, but we can think His thoughts about what we are considering. That is, think like you think He would think about whatever you are thinking.
Stress Management 7/19/98
Psalm 37:1 – 7
Page 826 Come Alive Bible
Jesus Christ was God in flesh and blood. He was called “Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.” We do well to learn from His example as well as His teaching. On an occasion when He was depleted from ministering to others He left the demanding crowd and went off by Himself. Even He knew He could not minister out of a bleached out body and spirit. He learned to take minute vacations as well as to retreat.
On an occasion the disciples came to Him and said the whole world is here to see you. He walked away. He just walked away. Sounds impersonal and disinterested doesn’t it. He knew His limit and limited His public ministry in order to be renewed Himself.
Ours is a stressful society. The other day I saw a teenager zoom onto the parking lot at a funeral home going at least twice the appropriate speed while talking on a cell phone. I thought, “Has life has become so urgent and so stressful as to demand this.”
Adults often manifest a martyr complex by overextending themselves. It is as though there is a guilt complex by persons who think they can relieve the guilt by abusing themselves. We seem to have developed a “Society for the Admiration of the Stressed Out.”
Stress is a subject Christians need to address. UPI just released the results of a study made by three sociology professors at the University of New Hampshire that shows Georgia ranks third, behind only Alaska and Nevada, in stress.
Stress related diseases are higher in Georgia and the other two states than the national average. Georgia ranked number 8 in alcohol related deaths and alcoholic psychoses.
Family stresses are given as the reason for the high stress level in Georgia.
We need to manage to control stress for economic reasons also. Stress-related pain is estimated to cost American businesses some 700 million workdays and $60 billion a year.
Stress results in a chemical or hormonal imbalance caused by heavy demands made on the body. It is a major contributor to cardiac disease, hypertension, peptic ulcers, arthritis, and numerous other maladies, all with a common denominator —- excessive stress.
Researchers estimate that 60% to 70% of all illness is stress related.
Dr. Hans Selye, M.D. is perhaps Canada’s most celebrated scientist. He founded the International Institute of Stress. He concluded stress induced diseases are on the increase in our society because the changing environment creates great demands on mind and body. He wrote:
“Stress can and does affect every aspect of life. Though it is necessary and unavoidable, too much of it produces staggering changes in intellectual and emotional attitudes as well as in health.”
Dr. Selye and his colleagues stated that though undue stress is adverse to good health and performance stress it is also the spice of life and the absence of stress is death. It is a stimulus that motivates us. We thrive on properly balanced stress. Such is called eustress.
To control stress it is essential to be attentive to the early warning signs. There are four, check yourself on them now and often:
Physical – upset stomach, dry mouth, muscle aches and pains.
Cognitive – loss of the ability to concentrate, being forgetful or humorless.
Emotional – being short tempered, sarcastic, or demoralized.
Behavioral – uh-oh, drinking more coffee or alcohol, eating more sweets, or over sleeping, and compulsive exercising.
Just the normal every day demands are enough to devitalize a person. When it happens what can a person do? Therapy for such a time is noted in Psalm 37.
I. DO GOOD (VS. 3)
Enter the training school of duty. Don’t sit in despair. When stress comes your way reach out to help someone.
In the poem “The Shoes of Happiness,” Conrad the old cobbler dreamed the Master would visit him. Expectantly he waited. Each time someone came by or entered his shop he excitedly responded hoping it was Christ. He didn’t come. A beggar came and Conrad gave him shoes. An old woman came stooped beneath a load. He refreshed her and gave her food. A lost, teary eyed child came and he returned her to her parents. His Divine guest didn’t come. However,
Then soft in the silence a voice he hears.
‘Lift up your heart, for I kept my word.
Three times I came to your friendly door;
Three times my shadow was on your floor.
I was the beggar with the bruised feet,
I was the woman you gave to eat,
I was the child in the homeless street.’
Christ said, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).
II. REST IN THE LORD (VS. 7)
The Hebrew text reads: “Be silent in God” or “Hold still before God.” This implies a troubled mind, an agitated state of being, a person perplexed, mentally extended, emotionally exhausted, and physically depleted. It depicts one with a great cloud over his or her spirit.
These words are addressed to two groups:
(1) Persons suffering from a guilt conscience – convicted, sin weary unbeliever.
(2) Distracted and distraught believer experiences trials.
There is an active and a passive rest.
ACTIVE rest is being engaged in work, doing God’s will. This enables one to get your mind off yourself and yourself off your mind. This requires involvement but with detachment.
PASSIVE rest involves unplugging and setting aside time to be alone with God. This is the interior fountain of active goodness.
This is difficult for those of us enthusiasts.
A well known psychiatrist has written, “Repose in God is the secret of power.” Psychologically there is a reason. We use only a small percent of our mind. It is divided into the conscious, fore- conscious, and subconscious. In the routine of a busy day the conscious mind is used. The fore- conscious mind is the seat of the imaginative and contemplative faculties. Poems, music, prayers, insight and creativity of all forms rise from here. It is there that great enterprises are given birth. There God and man meet.
Dr. Selye notes prayer is one of the three most effective treatments for stress. Don’t neglect this vital factor.
We are like birds looking for a tree in which to nest, but every tree in the forest has a woodsman’s mark on it awaiting the cutting. Every tree that is, but one. That one is illustrative of Jesus.
I have been reading a delightful little book recently entitled: “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” The sub title is: “And All Stuff Is Small.”
We tend to get up tight when someone cuts us off in traffic or slows down just enough to get through a green light but too much for us to make it. Steam rises from our collars. This often slows us down at least .6 seconds. That’s small stuff. Give yourself a break, don’t sweat the small stuff and remember —– all stuff is small.
REST IN THE LORD. He is personally our royal chamber.
HIS POWER – I have omnipotence on my side.
HIS PROMISES – COROCOVADO, a massive statue of Christ rises over Rio, Brazil in a striking manner. It can be seen from all over the city and for miles around. It is often obscured from view by clouds, but it is there. So God’s promises remain.
HIS PURPOSE. He is to be glorified in us. Learn the happy art of passing all praise on to Him. The intended end of life is not happiness, but duty. God has a purpose for you.
“Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” JESUS CHRIST.
III. WAIT PATIENTLY ON HIM (VS. 7)
Serving the Lord is a challenge – it is difficult.
Suffering for the Lord is demanding – it is more difficult.
Waiting on the Lord is the most severe discipline – it is THE most difficult.
Waiting on the Lord does not hint of passive indifference but active perseverance.
WE ARE TO WAIT – – – –
A. CONFIDENTLY. Vs. 7 “…wait patiently…”
This means to trust God to do His part when we are perfectly sure we have done ours.
We can do this if we will:
1. Pay attention to God’s rules regarding our minds and bodies. Various people have different mental stamina. Physically fatigued bodies can’t fight spiritual battles. What affects the body influences the brain.
2. Maintain a good conscience. This even influences our cholesterol. Diet has about a 10% influence on cholesterol. High adrenalin causes high cholesterol. Our mental attitude dramatically influences our adrenalin level. A good conscience can lower both.
3. Regularly feed your mind on God’s Word. Don’t expect God’s blessings while you are in a state of disobedience.
4. Cast every particular care on the Lord. “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7). The word “cast” means to toss them to Him. If you do they are no longer in your hands. Let go of the stressors.
5. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Employ His strategy of gratitude. This enables one to do the best of things in the worst of times.
6. Engage in prayer. Dr. Selye notes prayer is one of the most effective treatments for stress.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4: 6 – 7).
Ask God to give you the strength to change what needs to be changed, the ability to accept what can’t be changes, and the wisdom to know the difference.
B. CHEERFULLY. Vs. 7 “…fret not because of him…” We often fret and fume as though there is no eternity, no day of reckoning. The ultimate end of the wicked is described:
He shall “be cut off” (vs. 9); “not be” (vs. 10); “perish” (vs. 2).
C. COMPLYING. Vs. 34 “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way…”
Years ago there lived an elderly couple in a modest cottage on a tiny island in the Great Lake area. They lived alone in isolation without any neighbors for many miles. Their remoteness and isolation concerned their friends, Dr. and Mrs. Roy L. Smith. One day the Smiths had a council of love and decided to invite the couple to come and live out their days with them. The next day Dr. Smith and one of his daughters went by boat to the remote island where the couple lived by themselves. To the gracious invitation came the reply, “Of course, we can’t accept the invitation, can we, dear?” The couple then led Dr. Smith through the yard and along a winding pathway until at last they came to a clearing with a carpet of green grass bordered by beautiful flowers. In the center of this little clearing was a tiny mound with a snow white cross at its head. The old man put his arm around his wife and said, “We can’t leave our island home, for you see we lost a son here.”
Likewise, no matter what happens, God will never leave this floating island in the sky called, planet earth, because He lost a Son here!
He will never leave us or forsake us. You can wait on Him.
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.”