The Difference Between Selfish and Selfless Love

I'm a bad blogger.  Yesterday I got wrapped up in the "saga" of my life and didn't get around to writing up a post.  Note to self: don't try to decipher vague tweets from churches you're unfamiliar with because you'll come to the wrong conclusion. See below:

Somehow, I thought I was going on a date to a sermon about abstinence yesterday, "chaperoned" by my date's friends.  Don't even ask how I came to that conclusion.  Anyway, does anyone know the best site to search for hotel rooms?

All jokes aside, the sermon I thought would be about abstinence turned out to be about waiting (in a non-sexual sense) on things we want in our lives: new jobs, a relationship, a marriage, kids, the white picket fence, a purpose, things of that sort.  Our nation is incredibly impatient, and we as Americans tend to blame God when things don't go our way. 

Speaking with a friend about this, she mentioned this article from CNN which addresses how our nation tends to blame God for difficulties and lose faith in him in the sight of tragedy.  Excerpt:



Some religious leaders argue that modern American life insulates much of the nation from the kind of senseless death and suffering that plagues much of the world every day.

“Most of the world, for most of the world’s history, has known tragedy and trauma in abundance,” wrote Rob Brendle, a Colorado pastor, in a commentary for CNN’s Belief Blog after this summer’s deadly shooting in Aurora, Colorado, which left 12 dead.

“You don’t get nearly the same consternation in Burundi or Burma, because suffering is normal to there,” wrote Brendle, who pastored congregants after a deadly shooting at his church five years ago. “For us, though, God has become anesthetist-in-chief. To believe in him is to be excused from bad things.”

Behind the message on waiting and our impatience is the story of Job, a man who was blameless in God's eyes, yet still lost everything.  If you aren't familiar with the story, in short, Satan challenged Job's faith in God and claimed that Job loved the gifts God bestowed upon him, not God Himself.  To prove Satan wrong, God took away all of Job's worldly blessings and left him with nothing.  Yet Job's faith and love for the Lord persisted, unwavering and always true. 

When we spend our lives anxiously waiting- at traffic lights, for responses to text messages, for new steps in our careers, for a relationship, a marriage, a family, the perfect house, the perfect life, we are wasting our time.  Instead of wishing for things we don't have in the present, waiting impatiently for the next blessing that should be bestowed upon us, this story teaches us that we should instead wait for the Lord and fill our thoughts and wishes with loving and honoring Him.

Listen- I know a lot of folks out there aren't religious and please know I'm not trying to preach to you.  I am not a believer in the Buddhist faith, but I still get a lot of insight and inspiration from their teachings.  In sharing this Christian story with you, I hope you each can find a way to apply it to your own life, regardless of what you believe.

Here is what I believe to be the over-arching (read: non-religious) message of this story: Pay attention to your relationships.   Do you appreciate and love your friends and family because of who they are, or do you appreciate them because of what they can give you? If it is the latter, do some self-reflection to help you recognize the difference between selfish and selfless love.

Rather than wishing and waiting and blaming others when things go wrong, fill your heart with appreciation, understanding and love.  Learn from the mistake I make so often- worrying about something that is out of my control- and instead, spend your energy on worthwhile things like selfless love.  That is the moral of this story.  Apply it as you will. :]