Love is not rude, is
not selfish, - 1 Corinthians 13:5A (NCV)
It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon,
Randy thought, as he walked through the fellowship dinner line at
church. He had just finished giving a great sermon on how love is
not selfish and now he was sharing in the wonderful cooking of so
many of those in the church. Even the teens, at least Mindy and
Cindy, were commenting on the sermon and how they needed to work on
their sharing.
After making it through the line and
eating twice what he should have, Randy decided he better not go back
for deserts, that was until he caught the aroma of a fresh baked pie.
The aroma came from the table behind him and he wasn't the only one
to catch drift of it and what he heard in relation to that pie made
him wonder if the Miller twins had truly been listening.
“Is that wonderful aroma coming from
you?” Randy heard Cindy ask her sister, “It smells delicious,”
she continued, “What is it?” “It's you're favorite.” Mindy
replied, “It's a … fresh … baked … blueberry … pie. And I
made by myself.”
“YUM!” Cindy exclaimed, “You're
such a wonderful sister. “Thank you.” Mindy replied. “When do I
get some?” Cindy asked next but what Randy heard after that, well,
it wasn't pleasant. “Get some?” Mindy snorted, “You gotta be
kidding. “I don't care if your my sister, I made this pie by
MYSELF and I am going to eat it by MYSELF.”
“Then why did you bring it here?”
Cindy demanded to know. “Why do you think I brought?” Mindy
laughed, “I brought it to tease you because I know you love blue …
berry … pie.” “That's not nice!” Cindy snapped at her sister.
“I don’t care.” Mindy laughed again, “It’s MY pie and I’ll
do with it as I please. I'm not sharing with anybody, not even you.”
Randy sadly shook his head, “I guess
Mindy didn't learn a thing.” he thought to himself, “I wonder if
Cindy did.” Of course, it didn't take long for Randy to find out.
“That’s too bad.” He heard Cindy say, “I guess I’ll just
have to eat this all too my self.” “Eat what?” Mindy asked,
temporally forgetting about her pie.
“Oh,” Cindy smirked, “Just this
banana split I thought of sharing with you since they are your
favorite, but you probably don’t want any since you have a whole
blueberry pie to eat all by yourself.” “Well, I, um, um.” Mindy
stuttered, “Are you sure you won’t share?” “How about some of
that pie?” Cindy asked.
“Pie!” Mindy exclaimed, “What
pie? I don’t smell any pie? Besides, you know I would share with
you if I had one.” “Wow Randy thought “Now she's lying through
her teeth. What next?” “You're just a big liar.” Cindy snorted
at her sister. “Oh, yeah,” Mindy exclaimed, “Well, take this.”
and then Mindy stood up and through the pie into her sister's face.
That didn't sit well with Cindy and
she grabbed her banana split, covered it in hot sauce and stuck it
down Mindy's back. Before Mindy could retaliate Randy saw their dad
step in. “Well, now,” Randy heard him say, “Since you couldn't
share you treats, you're going to have to share the punishment for
your behavior.” and then he marched them out of the church
building.
How selfish can a person be? How
unthoughtful of others can a person be? How unsharing and uncaring
can a person be? David had been on the run because the king wanted
him dead. The king wanted him dead not because he had done wrong but
because he had served faithfully and the king was jealous. While
David was on the run and unable to settle down in any one place, he
didn't let that stop him from serving his country and protecting he
fellow country men of which Nabal was one.
The story of Nabal can be found in 1
Samuel 25 if you would like to read it in full. Here I'll just try
to summarize the story.
Nabal was very rich owning 3000 sheep
and 1000 goats and had a beautiful and wise wife named Abigail.
Unfortunately, Nabal was not well behaved and was harsh towards
others. Now the time had come for Nabal to have his sheep shaved and
was in Carmel, (the place)
David had been protecting his flocks
behind the scenes and decided that it was time to send some men to
see Nabal and ask for some handouts in return. What the men received
was a harsh no and they were sent away and that didn't set well with
David. Nor did it sit well with Nabal's servants.
As a result of Nabal's treatment of
David's men, David prepared to go to war against Nabal while Nabal's
servants went to Abigail knowing that Nabal's response was going to
bring trouble. Quick to see that the servants were right, Abigail
responded by loading up lots of food and immediately heading out to
intercept David, all without telling her husband.
When Abigail saw David, she hurried
and fell before him on her face and bowed to the ground and she
pleaded with him not to make war on her husband, her household and
the servants. Upon hearing Abigail's plea, David blessed the Lord,
restrained himself from going to war and accepted Abigail's gift of
food.
Latter, Nabal found out what had
happened and to make this long story short, God took Nabal's life and
David got Abagail as a wife.
1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us that love
is not selfish or self seeking. It may vary depending on the version
you read but the idea is still the same. Selfishness comes in many
forms including that of Cindy, Mindy and Nabal.
The opposite of selfishness could be
what we find in ....
- Romans 15:1-3 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." (ESV)
- Philippians 2:4 - Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (ESV)
- 1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. (ESV)
- 2 Corinthians 5:15 Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him. (NCV)
Here's Something To Ponder
- In what ways are you selfish?
- In what ways do you put others first?
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