You can’t keep it unless you give it away!
When it comes to love, happiness, knowledge, truth, honor, honesty, and passion, you can’t keep it unless you give it away. I am sure I could come up with a few hundred more word examples but I am running with these!
What is in it that we have to give away and what are we keeping when we give it away?
The “it “in the giving away part is service.
The “it” in the keeping part is humility.
Why should I give away service to gain humility and what do I gain from keeping humility? Sounds like a losing deal and boring thing to do!
Here is the payoff. When we are of service to others, we are giving our energies, efforts, and time with proper motives and efforts. This act of giving service is biblical and pleases God who in turn rewards our actions and efforts.
Philippians 2:3 “Don't act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves”.
OK, so the heart of a servant of the Lord is a humble heart. In serving others for the right reasons we are gaining precious humility.
“…for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." Luke 18:14
When we gain humility, we gain perspective into what our true path is on this Earth. Remember, as God’s kids we are no longer human beings seeking spiritual experiences. We are now spiritual beings encountering human experiences and humility helps us to make the right choices. Our motives move from constantly seeking “what’s in it for me” to be in alignment with our efforts to see what we can bring to others in the form of service. Being freed from the chains of selfishness we are able to follow a path that leads to happiness, joy, freedom, and fulfillment. Our very lives depend upon this change of motivation. While we are in the grip of selfishness we are dead to the Spirit. Our work helping others brings our faith to life so that we may truly live.
“Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.” Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page 84
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