How to Live A Good Life (Hint: It's Not About You)
May 5, 2016
These days, I can hardly scroll through Facebook or Twitter without seeing an inspirational and motivating quote. You know the ones I’m talking about: sayings like “live your best life” and “live the life you’ve imagined.”
These quotes focus on bettering ourselves and aspiring to live the best life we can. As motivating as these quotes sound, I believe they’re narrowly focused and maybe even a little bit selfish. They encourage us to focus only on what we can do for ourselves.
But living your best life isn’t about you. It’s about others.
1 Corinthians 4:7 says,
For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Everything I received in my life was because someone gave it to me, either directly or indirectly.
Every. Single. Thing.
I was born because my mom carried me for nine months and endured hours of labor (and Dad helped a little).
I landed my summer internship because my colleagues at my first internship vouched heavily for me.
I landed that first internship because my mom found it through Google and pushed me to apply.
Even the Spring Sing t-shirt I’m wearing was bought with money that my parents generously give me access to.
Even though we may work hard to earn some things for ourselves, God still gives us life everyday. This is something that we have done nothing to earn.
But our culture is often consumed with our own goals and our own dreams; I know I am. We say things like “just do it” or “this is MY year.” These may sound encouraging, but in reality, they focus solely on bettering ourselves and our own lives.
Humans are very self-centered. That’s how we’re wired, but that doesn’t mean that’s how we should live.
But what does it mean to be giving in a world that embraces and even praises selfishness?
Dictionary.com defines selfish as “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests.”
Doesn’t that sound horribly lonely?
A selfish world would have nobody that you can trust, nobody to rely on. No true friends. No love in it at all.
That doesn’t sound like a world I want to live in. But how can we change that?
To be different from the selfish world, we cannot be selfish. We must be benevolent, caring, kind, generous. We receive so much everyday, so it’s important to give more than we receive.
A good life is a selfless life.
One thing that really stuck with me from my senior Bible class in high school came from a conversation on how Christians should handle money. One video we watched highlighted a couple who said they give away 51% of their income every month and live off the remaining 49%. That’s a mindset that I admire. The couple knows that the things they receive do not come from their own ability to earn it, but from God. As a result, they donate the majority of their money to further God’s kingdom through their church or a charity.
I want a life like that.
I want a life that gives to others, that views others as more important than myself, that goes out of my way to help someone when they need it.
Don’t get me wrong; I like the idea of ‘living my best life,’ but I want to live a life that is not only good to me, but is also good to the people around me.
Philippians 2:3-4 reminds us:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Are the people around you blessed to know you?
Do something today that blesses others. Whether it’s sending a friend a Starbucks gift card, inviting someone to sit with you at lunch, or thanking a professor for their hard work all semester, the people around you will be be blessed even through such simple acts. We can be generous to others monetarily, physically, emotionally, or even with our time.
1 Corinthians 4:7 highlights not only that we have been blessed by what we’ve received, but also that we need to boast about what we have received. Here, Paul reminds us to give glory to God while we give generously to others. Whether that means writing a Bible verse at the bottom of an encouragement card, telling someone they have a God-given talent, or praying with the homeless man after handing him change, it’s simple to work God into our interactions with others.
As Christians, we need to live a life that gives because so much has been given to us by God. Consider what we can do rather than what we can gain. The world will be better for it, and so will we.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35