Bulletin Article on Selflessness | We Must Lose To Gain!
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesOn my grandfather’s farm was a field he sowed by hand. He would strap on a canvas contraption similar to a kangaroo pouch, fill it with seed, and go out to sow. He would cast seed everywhere.
When a farmer sows seed in his field, it looks like he’s throwing the seed away. It seems to be lost, but it isn’t really gone. In due time he gets it back with much more than he started out with.
When we give ourselves to Christ, it may seem to the world as if we’re throwing our life away. But the Lord tells us that it is only as we lose our lives in Him that we find true life (Matthew 10:39).
Jesus teaches us to measure our lives by losses rather than gains, by sacrifices rather than self-preservation, by time spent for others rather than time lavished upon ourselves, by love poured out rather than love poured in.
It’s an eternal principle of life: God blesses those who give of their lives and resources (2 Corinthians 9:6). If we give out the truth of God’s word to others, He’ll give us more to give away. If we give of our time, and we’ll have more time to give. If we set no limit on our love, we’ll have more love for others than before.
The Proverb writer tells us, “There is one who scatters, yet increases more” (Proverbs 11:24). It’s one of the oldest paradoxes in the world, but it works. The British poet, WIlliam Wordsworth (1770-1850), also stated a great truth regarding our giving:
We lose what on ourselves we spend;
We have as treasure without end
Whatever, Lord, to You we lend,
Who givest all.
The bottom line is: When we are selfish, we lose; when we give to God by helping others in need, we gain (Matthew 25:31-46).