Philippians 2

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:.......taking the very nature of a servant...."-Philippians 2:3-5,7

Selfishness. It is a problem today. Why? Because people don't have enough faith in God to get their needs met through Him. They don't know Him well enough. If they did, they would act like Him. Jesus was our example of how to treat others. He loved those He came in contact with. Why was it so easy for those He came in contact with to get healed? I think it was because they knew something about God already, and they believed in His love and compassion. Selfishness, Love, Knowledge, Healing.....it is all connected. My heart's cry is to see the Church look like the book of Acts, not just the Power of God demonstrated through the Holy Spirit. That is something everyone desires, but the Church also has to look like them and Him by the love they demonstrate. Faith works by love. Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the templecourts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number DAILY those who were being saved." There is so much in this one passage, I could talk for a while. The overall theme though is the love and fellowship which resulted in miracles and the addition of people to the church. It wasn't hard for them to have the Word of God working in their midst.

I feel compelled to connect this to parenting since my blog is called My Journey Through Motherhood. As a parent, there is no room for selfishness. You learn a lot about yourself as a human being when your children are born. You find out how much of life is about you and not about others. When my son was born, I was totally hit with the realization of how much I think about me. My son had basic simple needs and I had no other purpose at that time than to meet those needs, because he couldn't. He still has needs, and now I have two more children who have needs. And I still find traces of selfishness within me throughout this journey of motherhood.