What am I willing to do for the sake of others? This is a question that has bounced around in my head for a while. Please indulge me for a few hundred more words; maybe this question can also share space inside your head.
All healthy relationships find ways to answer this question. Marriages thrive when we serve our spouse. Parenting is a continual exercise in putting the needs of others first. Friendships bring their greatest return when we find ourselves sacrificing for our friends.
The root of this question finds itself in the heart of what it means to have an outrageous faith. A quick stroll through the Bible points people to a God who for the joy set before him, (us) endured the cross.
A sentence from the Bible tucked away in a letter to people who were under extreme persecution reminds us that at the core of exercising faith is a deep conviction and belief that “He is God” and that “He is good.” With this conviction of belief, faith as it were, our lives become shaped by a friendship that is worth everything and a purpose worthy of all our days.
Back to my question with a small twist; “Am I willing to live my life for the sake of others?” Jesus’ teaching provides us an added context for this question when he says, “A new commandment I give to you, love one another as I have loved you. This is how my disciples will be known as my disciples, by loving one another.”
Jesus spoke these words with full confidence in his friendship and partnership with his Father as he washed the feet of his friends. His point was that faith in God is demonstrated quite often in how we live for the sake of others. Is it any wonder that there are dozens of instructions in the Bible that point us to love, serve, submit, pray for, and care for one another?
Who is the example for this kind of life? Jesus himself, who existed in the very nature as God and yet emptied himself and took on human skin, obediently giving his life for us.
In 2021, the 4GENetwork promises this: We will write, post our One Minute Messages, and encourage the kind of faith that expresses itself in how it loves others. We will focus on the kind of leadership that expresses itself in serving others, or as we like to call it around here, Leading from the Middle.
Take a few minutes and let this question bounce around your head, “What am I willing to do for the sake of others?”