People. Beautiful, terrifying, unique people. You are a people. I am a people. Ahem, I suppose the proper term is person. But, the point is, we are all human.

Sometimes that’s a difficult thing to understand or realize in our day to day interactions. We are all part of the human race and often we treat each other less than that. We hoist ourselves up on pedestals because in our minds we believe we are somehow better than others and deserve to be treated like royalty. So we let this thinking take control and end up treating everybody else as our servants.

It is easy to let the mindset of society become our mindset—that we are on this earth to get as much as we can out of people for our own gain and improvement and satisfaction. Often we do this without even realizing it. This takes its toll on all our relationships and sends them into a spiral of selfishness and hurt. We take and take and take and wonder what went wrong when things end up in a ditch.

We are so consumed by our wants and our need to for some reason feel comfortable and secure and valued and accepted so we push and prod and step on others just to achieve this perfect sense of identity.

I wonder what would happen if we started to make others interests our interests instead of forcing our interests upon others. What would happen if we began to cultivate a culture of love instead of self?

We wonder why there is so much strain and drama between ourselves and our friends and family, and the root of it is selfishness. We want, they want, nobody wants to give.

What if we just began to give? What if we went out of our way to open that door for somebody or help them carry a heavy load or pick up something they dropped?

What if we began to smile at people when we passed them, took the time to stop and really listen to somebody (even a complete stranger), or give the compliments we think but never verbalize?

What would happen if we began shaping our lives around the mindset that we are here to serve others rather than be served? What do we deserve from them? Nothing.

Christ calls us to live a life of humility—one of lifting others up and serving them…even so much to clean their feet (perhaps this means cleaning the bathroom or cleaning somebody’s house).

We did nothing to deserve the outpouring of intense, incomprehensible Love from Christ when He took the form of man to come and die on the cross for our sins. Including our selfishness. He died so that we may be free of the shackles of self and live a life of freedom and love.

Now in saying all of this, I am all too aware of my own shortcomings regarding this topic. I am human. I make mistakes. I am selfish more often than I’d care to admit. But Christ draws me ever closer, washes me anew, and reminds me that I am anointed to be a conduit of His love and mercy to those who do not know their name or His. Despite my selfishness, He chooses me and calls me forth to speak life and truth in servanthood.

I pray that this week we will be intentional in making others’ interests our interests and putting them before ourselves.