Live a life of self-denial

Live a life of self-denial. Why are you here in this world? It is not about you. That is what the Bible says (Numbers 16:1–50). I want to tell you of another story. I was converted when I was 14 and my brother was converted when he was 18. We had lots of good talks when he was like around 18-19 years old. We shared the same bedroom. One day he comes home, and he triumphantly announces to me that he has found out what life is all about. He could summarize all of life in one word. So, I asked, Wow. What is that? He answered, Service. I said, explain, he said, Well, it is quite simple. God made us to glorify him and out of glorifying him to love our neighbours. So really, life is really nothing about service, you are just serving God and you are serving your neighbour and if you fulfil the purpose for which you are created, then you will be truly happy. Happiness is a by-part of that service. Now, I said, Cool. I did not think much about it, but you know, forty some years later, this is really a good answer. That is what life is all about: service.

And so you see, when you are concerned about yourself all the time like, Oh, he did not treat me right, and she did not treat me correctly . . . How we always nurse all these little petty feelings: We get hurt easily; we are so tender. It is all about me. We get more hurt about someone who is wrecking our reputation, then we do about someone wrecking God’s reputation. But if we can exercise a little bit of self-denial, our lives would be so much more God-centred, and so much less worldly. The world would notice that we are not living for ourselves. We are really living to serve God, and to serve our neighbour. And isn’t it true when you live that way, as a Christian, you get much more joy yourself? Don’t you? It is really more blessed to give than to receive.¹

Joel Beeke