"What's in it for Me?"

Life in general is always in survival mode for most folks and rightly so. This is the reason we will hear the question so often asked, “What's in it for me?” when approached to do something for or with someone. People want to know what they are getting into and how it is going to benefit them. To a certain extent there is nothing wrong with wanting to know the blessings or consequences of your decision making. After all, what we are today is due to what we did yesterday and what we are tomorrow is due to what we do today. Makes sense, right?

Here is a prime example of self preservation. A devout believer in astrology, French king Louis XI was deeply impressed when an astrologer correctly foretold that a lady of the court would die in eight days' time. Deciding, however, that the too-accurate prophet should be disposed of, Louis summoned the man to his apartments, having first told his servants to throw the visitor out of the window when he gave the signal. "You claim to understand astrology and to know the fate of others," the king said to the man, "so tell me at once what your fate will be and how long you have to live." "I shall die just three days before Your Majesty," answered the astrologer. The shaken king canceled his plans! [Today in the Word, July 16, 1993.] 

 

It wouldn't hurt for us to remember the words of Warren Wiersbe dealing with preserving oneself. “Self-preservation is the first law of physical life, but self-sacrifice is the first law of spiritual life.” So are we thinking with the spiritual or the carnal mind when it comes to self-preservation? Good question to ask ourselves on a regular basis. The apostle Paul struggled with the flesh/carnal mind and this is what he had to say about it. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:5-8) Surely all of us want to be pleasing to God and it is required of us to do so if we love Him and want to keep His commandments.

Paul further tells us in 1 Cor. 3:3, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So, do you have any of these problems? Remember, to be pleasing to God we cannot have a carnal mind. We must never forget that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4) We all have those nagging strongholds in our life that need to be destroyed, mainly because they are carnal, not spiritual. With God's help these strongholds will be destroyed once and for all. The question is, “Are you willing to let Him do it?”

Goodness of God

...not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

One of God's faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, "While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me." In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, "I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God." [Allen Gardiner]

Surely we can identify with Mr. Gardiner that God is good. We've even made the statement, “God is good,” more than once ourselves. We read in Exodus 34:6 where Moses proclaimed that the Lord was abounding in goodness and truth which tells us that His goodness is abundant even for us today. The psalmist lets us know that His goodness is great as well. Oh how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You...(Psalm 31:19a) The psalmist also writes that God's goodness is enduring, satisfying and universal. Why do you boast in evil, O might man? The goodness of God endures continually (Psa. 52:1). Blessed is the man whom You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house (Psa. 65:4). The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psa. 145:9). So God's goodness is described as being abundant, great, enduring, satisfying and universal.

We see God's goodness manifested in several things too. Take for instance material and spiritual blessings. Matthew 5:45 is a prime example of His material blessings. “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” And how about His willingness to forgive sins? For You, Lord are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You (Psa. 86:5).

Maybe you can relate to God's goodness through this story. Often I have heard people say, "How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!'" Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. "No, Corrie," said Betsie, "He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.'" Corrie concludes, "There is an ocean of God's love available--there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love--whatever the circumstances." [Corrie Ten Boom]

If we found ourselves in Corrie and Betsie's situation, would we have the same attitude as Betsie about God's goodness? If one truly knows and loves God, then and only then will they realize God's goodness no matter what their circumstances are in life. Amen? We need to come to grips that God is still in control and He wants nothing but good for His creation. It is and has always been man that has messed up His plans. 

 

Can you be counted on today to start looking for God's goodness? If so, can you also be counted on to help others find it too? Just think how much better off the world will be if we all have Betsie's attitude in life! God's goodness does abound and I'm sure we have already witnessed it today. Keep looking for it and see how your life will be changed for the better and how every day will have a silver lining, not a rain cloud. This is what happened in the life of Ezra. Let's see how!

Service

Most people wish to serve God -- but in an advisory capacity only.

Quoted in Sunday Express, London.

Franklin Roosevelt's closest adviser during much of his presidency was a man named Harry Hopkins. During World War II, when his influence with Roosevelt was at its peak, Hopkins held no official Cabinet position. Moreover, Hopkins' closeness to Roosevelt caused many to regard him as a shadowy, sinister figure. As a result he was a major political liability to the President. A political foe once asked Roosevelt, "Why do you keep Hopkins so close to you? You surely realize that people distrust him and resent his influence." Roosevelt replied, "Someday you may well be sitting here where I am now as President of the United States. And when you are, you'll be looking at that door over there and knowing that practically everybody who walks through it wants something out of you. You'll learn what a lonely job this is, and you'll discover the need for somebody like Harry Hopkins, who asks for nothing except to serve you." Winston Churchill rated Hopkins as one of the half-dozen most powerful men in the world in the early 1940s. And the sole source of Hopkins's power was his willingness to serve. [Discipleship Journal, Issue 39 (1987), p. 5.]

Now let's examine two types of service and try to determine which one best describes us when it comes to serving God and our fellow man.

Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.Self-righteous service is impressed with the "big deal." True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness.Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. True service is free of the need to calculate results.Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.Self-righteous service is temporary. True service is a life-style.Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it. Self-righteous service fractures community. True service, on the other hand, builds community. [Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, "The Discipline of Service."] 

 

God's word reminds us that...

“You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)

“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:27,28)

...but through love serve one another. (Gal. 5:13)

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col. 3:24)

 

One of the best ways we can serve God and our fellow man is to become very acquainted with God's word and be willing to share it when the opportunities present themselves.