Beyond Ourselves

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

This morning as I listened to the Father he said, "Beyond Yourselves." I knew exactly what He was saying. He was telling me that the answer to all of life is to look "Beyond Ourselves."

That looking starts with looking from ourselves to God. It ends with looking beyond ourselves to others.

In an ironic twist of the expected order that very looking beyond ourselves is what brings ourselves into a proper perspective.

I have often shared with people that in my personal experience and that of the history of humanity that I have had the privilege of knowing, that the road to mental illness is the spiral inward. Likewise the road to mental health is outward bound.

We live as isolated consciousnesses until we connect with God. As much as we might try to connect with others our bodies are the only way we can do so. When someone is severely limited in those faculties such as a person like Helen Keller they can live in an almost completely isolated existence. The gift of communication is so precious. That we can share our thoughts, ideas, dreams, hopes, frustrations and fears is wonderful beyond imagination. Only those who have lost those avenues can fully understand how precious they are.

And yet even those gifts cannot meet the chasm of isolation that marks the human soul. The only thing that can fill that void is God. Our first encounter beyond ourselves that moves us towards full health is the one we have with God. Nothing can take its place:

Mark 10:17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.19 "You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'" 20 And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 22 But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

Notice that the issue in this story is not really about possessions. Jesus told the young man "One thing you lack...." then he told him to do two things. "go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." The one thing the young man lacked was a relationship with Jesus. What was standing in his way of a relationship with him was his wealth. His wealth represented himself. Nothing that he had could give what only Jesus could. But the connection between him and his wealth was so strong that he gave up the greatest opportunity of his life to find real fulfillment.

This is the irony of our blindness. If we saw the truth about what we gain when we move beyond ourselves to follow Jesus we would know that the greatest delight in life is found in giving our lives away to God. Nothing is more wonderful than having our lives filled with his presence. What a lie the devil tells us when he tempts us with possessions which are dead things that God created. He makes us think that these lifeless things have more to offer than the one who created them. To have God's favor on our lives is really better than life because life without Him is not life at all.

Psalm 63:3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.



To seek for life beyond ourselves is the only way we will find life.

Matthew 16:26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

The negative spin that we have allowed the gospel to be defined by has done such a disservice to its proclamation. Another distracter is also seen in making Jesus into a super additive to our lives. Add Jesus and you get worldly wealth and all your self-centered desires met. Both are distortions of the truth. Jesus did tell the young man that there was a cost involved in following him. He also promises us abundant life. But the abundant life is found only in surrender of our self centeredness and reaching beyond ourselves to him.

Jesus' life in us is the most wonderful gift anyone could ever know.

Beyond ourselves also means, once our relationship with Jesus is full we let his life in us give our lives away.

The end result is a movement beyond ourselves to touch others' lives. In reaching beyond ourselves we actually find ourselves.

When I began to read about Francesco D'Assisi I found a soul that resonated with mine. His love for Jesus so touched my heart because it was exactly what I felt for him. His life was all about reaching beyond himself. He wrote a song which speaks deeply to my heart what the true heart of a believer is to be.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying [to ourselves] that we are born to eternal life.