what's it really all about?

when asked what the most important commandment was, Jesus' reply was "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. the second is this: love your neighbor as yourself. there is no other commandment greater than these."

this can be seen as a definition of the well ordered life AND the well ordered ministry. sin, however, gets this proper order all jumbled. instead of loving God and loving others, too often, i love me and then me. i need constant reminding that it's not about me.

so what more explosive reminder can there be than to have the cake cutting at my birthday party (a celebration of me) interrupted by a phone call from a friend to tell me that he is dying? praise God! it's all about HIM! (and the lives that He allows me to touch springing from the reality of who He is.) i am reminded of a quote that struck me as we were studying ch. 9 of "don't waste your life" the other day:

"if your aim is to love people, you will lay down your life to make them eternally glad in God. and if your aim is to glorify Christ, you will also lay down your life to make people eternally happy in God... any good-hearted goal, without the desire to give people eternal joy in God, is condemnation with a kind face."

life is short - sometimes even shorter than we expect. thank You God for the privilege of serving You - for being the One Hope in my life - help me to love You more and to lay down my life pointing others to You!