Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Philippians 2:4 MSG
All kinds of books, podcasts, and teachings have been shared about how to catch the apparently elusive happiness goal. However, a simple look at life shows that the starting point for happiness is shifting the focus away from yourself. Self-focus guarantees that you will be a miserable person. If you truly want to be happy in life, caring about the needs of those around you and helping meet those needs is vital.
Timothy got it right. Philippians 2:20-21 records Paul’s observation: “There is no one like Timothy for having a real interest in you; everyone else seems to be worrying about his own plans and not those of Jesus Christ.”
Isn’t that how it is? Most people are worrying about their own plans and aren’t looking out for the interests of others. Few people get up in the morning and think about how someone else is doing. Most people are consumed with their own problems and needs. That’s why most people are unhappy with their lives!
If you’d like to be one of those very rare unselfish people, you must shift your focus away from yourself to other people. This is not a natural way of thinking. You must choose it. Most of us have not spent our lives looking outside ourselves, so we have missed multiple significant opportunities to lend a helping hand. You can probably remember many situations where you felt regret because you didn’t help someone who was in real need. You didn’t notice they needed to talk or were overwhelmed with responsibilities and needs that you could have relieved. We get distracted, we don’t pay attention, we don’t even see what a difference we could make because our focus is turned solidly inward.
Today is a good day to be intentional about looking away from yourself to the needs of others. You’ll find happiness in serving God through serving others. Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand.
- What distractions might keep you from lending a helping hand today?
- What does it mean for you to “forget yourself”?
- Pray: Lord, help me. Open my eyes to see. I don’t want to be obsessed with myself. Today I will forget about myself and lend a helping hand.