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A Season of Selfless Giving?
This Christmas I am convicted by my own selfishness. As I think of Jesus’s gift—God laying aside heaven and the worship due him to come to earth for us—I realize that my gift-giving bears little resemblance to his. Jesus emptied self while much of my giving costs me little. Apart from tangible family gifts, I do give time and money to our church and ministries throughout the year, but not to the extent that Jesus did—thinking of others before himself. I am faced with this question: am I giving anything that really costs me anything precious and valuable? I give money to God’s kingdom work, but I…
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Lead by Loving
If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any one of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. . . A negative term has been substituted from a positive . . . The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. — C.S. Lewis The poignant words struck my soul. What if we lived and led by Lewis’ observation? What if…
