Not living for ourselves

Some background to the title of this blog:

The other night my wife and I were sitting watching TV... (I know it's sad, we should have been out enjoying the weather) watching "Deal or No Deal". The game show where the contestant picks one of 26 cases each with a dollar amount between a penny and a million dollars. The process whittles down to find out how much money is in the contestants case, every so often the 'banker' calls and gives them an offer to buy the case, for less than what could be in the case.

Essentially its a game of odds, some people get lucky others don't. It is remarkable how many people really believe that the biggest amount is in their case and act towards that end.

So getting to the point, when we were watching a lady was down to about 4 cases. There was one big number like 400k and several smaller ones, she had one case to open before her next offer from the banker. And her friend who was helping make the decisions, said..."Go for it, you deserve more than they are offering." I was dumbfounded, not only does playing the odds have absolutely nothing to do with what we "deserve" but this lady really thought that "fate" or something would grant her more money, because she had suffered or something in this life.

Multiple topical conversations could be brought out here. 1) issues with the "entitlement generation" 2) what do we really deserve 3) how to actually play to get the best odds... etc.

But the point I'd like to make is that we ought to not live for ourselves. That lady on the show was living for herself, and thinking, "what do I deserve?" I'll delve further into what we really deserve later. But for now let's think about how we can live our lives to serve others, rather than ourselves. This is difficult and it takes sacrificing our own desires. But in the end when we are laying on our death bed would you rather be taking everything you did in life to the grave with you(Like someone who selfishly does everything for themself)? Or would you rather be leaving a legacy of love and service to the people in your life.

Here's a sermon from John Piper on the topic (obviously I like this guy).

Don't Waste Your Life.