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“Conquering our Self-Seeking Nature”

Thoughts for Today:

Our passage today is another dimension of God's kind of love (the all-encompassing Greek word for love: "AGAPE"). Vine's Expository Dictionary describes AGAPE love as: "the love that can be known only from the actions it prompts...." Love that is not self-seeking is a great example – it's an act that is produced from a greater love.

AGAPE love creates in people the desire to literally lay down their lives for another person. (John 15:13: "Greater love [AGAPE] has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.") So why would someone place their own life at risk for someone else's benefit? Because they have forgotten themselves.

Often times, when heroes of the battlefield or in life are asked to explain why they placed themselves in peril, their answers are very similar: "I didn't think about myself or the danger. I only thought about helping the person in trouble." That's God's kind of love.

We cannot conquer selfish desires if we only think about our own wants and needs. The way to win the battle is to fall in greater love with God than ourselves. When God is at the center of our thoughts we begin to discover the depth and dimension of His greater AGAPE type of love, and we lose the yearning of our self-seeking natures.

Questions to Ponder:

I get frustrated when I hear people who are depressed, unmotivated or unhappy say, "I need to spend more time focusing on myself." That is just crazy. The antidote for all of those ills is to place God's love at the center of our thoughts and the well-being of others ahead of our own selfish interests. To love God and to give; to be outwardly focused, not inwardly obsessed.

How have you been feeling lately? Energized or worn out? What powers your actions -- God's kind of love or your own selfish desires? What theme dominates your thoughts?

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About the author

Pocket Devotions are written by Mike Brooks. A retired businessman, he is Moderator of South Shores church, leads the Deacon Board, serves on the finance committee, and he teaches a Men's Bible study and the Men's Ministry. Mike has a passion for evangelical missions. He is the husband of Sherry; the father of Ryan, Natalie, Krissy, Rebecca, and Amanda; the father-in-law of Ariel; and the grandfather of Conner and Christian.