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 It’s not about meLove… is not self-seeking. - 1 Corinthians 13:5 It was not a very long piece on the TV news. I don’t even recall the mother’s name. But what she does and why she is doing it I will not soon forget. The news piece is about the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath. It centers on a mother and her young children. Their small house is now rubble. The mother does not know what they are going to eat. She does not know what they are going to drink. She does not know where they are going to live. And she finds herself surrounded by thousands of people who are wondering the same thing. At present she and her children are living in the open, sitting and resting on a blanket. But as she sits with her children the mother is doing a strange thing. She’s continually smiling and talking cheerfully. Someone from the news crew finally asks her why she’s smiling so much. Her response is sober and direct. “It’s for my children,” she says. Footage like that quickly reminds us what love is. Love is not about me. It’s not about my needs. It’s not about indulging my fears or fulfilling my dreams or protecting my self-esteem. It’s about others. The old, sinful self inside me does not like that. It does not like that one bit. Left to my own instincts my life would be all about me until there would be nothing left but me. And ultimately there I would exist: isolated, alone, in the outer darkness of hell. But Jesus came. He came for me. He lived a perfect life for me. He suffered and died for my every failure. And now he lives for me. Because of him, my life is different. I am different. My slavery to self is done. And now I can really love because through Jesus it’s not about me. It’s about others. Prayer: Daily Devotions are brought to you by www.WhatAboutJesus.com
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