Who's Number One?

I really want to give back to people and live for others but I can honestly say, I'm nowhere near this goal. And one of the things I want to accomplish in my lifetime is overcoming my selfishness. I have to be the most selfish person on the planet. 

I'm not very happy with my life. In fact my happiness level is about 67%. This is a sad fact. I want to know what true love and helping others is really about but I just can't seem to overcome my biggest obsticle, me. I just know when I stand in front of the of the judgement seat and see the account of my life, God will personally escort me to the exit sign of heaven. 

But I have not lost all hope. This is a struggle for me and one I hope will be conquered with the help of Jesus. And when I came across this little devotional, I knew God had heard my prayers and I wanted to share it.

God Bless.

Who's Number One?

by Joyce Meyer

Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." Luke 6:38, The Message

Sometimes we tend to live “backwards”—exactly opposite of the way we should live. We live for ourselves and yet we never seem satisfied . We should live for others – give away our lives - and learn the wonderful secret that what we give away comes back to us multiplied many times over.

When somebody wants to be “number one,” it automatically means a lot of people will be disappointed. Only one person can be the number one runner in the world; only one can be the president of the company or the best-known actor or actress. Only one can be the top author or the best painter in the world. While I believe we should all be goal-oriented and do our best, I don’t believe we should want everything for ourselves and care nothing about other people.

I have lived long enough to try a variety of ways to be happy and have discovered by process of elimination what is effective and what is not. Self-focus and striving to be number one at others’ expense does not make life work the way it was intended to work and is definitely not God’s will for our lives. Instead, He wants us to be aggressive about loving others and helping them get ahead.

Love must be more than a theory or a word; it has to be action. It must be seen and felt. Love is and has always been His idea. He came to love us and to teach us how to love. When we do this, life is exciting, beautiful and rewarding.

Love Someone Today: Lord, help me not to disregard or compete with others in an effort to be number one. I pray for opportunities to show love to others by helping others get ahead and reach their goals in life.

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From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2006 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.