One truth I have learned for the last 10 years or so is that to truly find your life, you have to give it away. In a culture that is intensely focused on the individual, it’s a foreign idea to get your eyes off of yourself and onto other people. But this is the life we’re called to live. And it’s not the easy road. It costs something. And more often than not, something great.
Jeremiah and I have served with Apartment Life for almost 2 years now. We spend 70 hours a month organizing and planning dinners and events for our residents in order to build community and relationships with them. The platform we have is then an opportunity for us to share our lives with them (the good, bad, and the ugly) and for them to do the same with us. Our hope in turn is that we can share Christ’s love and hope. God has given us some awesome stories of life-change. Seeing hard-hearted friends who were burned by the church and wanted nothing to do with God, start to soften and embrace Him. And to finally see Him as their loving Father.
Experiences and stories like that give me great joy in helping fulfill the command to be on mission (Matthew 28:19-20). I have found joy like no other in seeing lives radically changed because of the gospel. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no greater joy than making others glad in God. That is what I think it means to give yourself away.
No man is an island. We were created for real-life relationships and community with other people. That means living life among those who are not like us and loving them where they’re at. This is what I’m being challenged with and it’s changing the way I see life and the purpose I was created for.
How can you give yourself away and help others become glad in God?
