For you were called to be free brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but serve one another through love. for the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.    Galatians 5:13-15 HCSB

Our lives here on earth is simply a journey to our final, eternal destination. We can have an enjoyable journey, or we can have a miserable trip. The choice is really up to us. God commanded us to do ten things. Jesus summed those ten things up in Matthew 22:37-39 when He said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. He said the second was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

In Galatians Paul is speaking about the freedom we have from sin in a life lived with Christ. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are freed from the bondage of sin. You see taking this journey of life while in sin’s bondage is much like being transported as a prisoner or a slave. You will likely be hauled in some vessel that hauls a lot of cargo or people while chained up. Doesn’t sound like an ideal way to travel, does it?

But when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are freed from that bondage. This doesn’t mean we can go on intentionally sinning and asking for forgiveness. The Bible clearly states in Hebrews 10:26 that if we go on sinning deliberately that there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. When we sin, we are God’s adversary.

Our salvation gives us freedom, but not to keep on sinning and fulfilling the desires of the flesh. We must be obedient. If we love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength, we want to serve Him. We often do this by serving others. When we serve others, we put their needs above our own.

We need to take a good hard look at why we do the things we do. Philippians 2:3 tells us we should do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than ourselves. Are you spending your time worried about yourself and your needs? That seems natural, doesn’t it? If we don’t take care of ourselves who will? We are taught that we have to look out for number one. Well, that is true if we consider God to be number one in our lives.

The other day I was having a rough day. I wasn’t feeling well. I had to go to get my dog some medicine as her allergies were flaring and my husband and I stopped for gas. When I attempted to start the vehicle, it wouldn’t start. The battery was dead. There was a Hispanic man there who helped my husband get to the battery and offered to take him to the nearest auto store. We were fortunate that we were close to family and had someone coming. This man left a tool with us to remove the battery. I have no idea who he was. We could barely understand him. But he was obviously working. He had lawn equipment in his truck. But he took time out of his busy day to help us. He put a stranger’s needs above his own. He didn’t know us, he could have simply gone on about his day. But he took time to help and offered to take more time. This is what it’s all about.

When was the last time you got your mind off of yourself and your needs and truly helped someone else? God has taught me that if I go about tending to His business that He takes really good care of my business. When counseling with a client who is focused on themselves and going through a depressed state, I often work towards getting them to volunteer and help others. This is what God calls us to do.

We are all on a journey. I have learned that I enjoy the journey much more when I put God first and others second. Our pastor often says the acronym for joy is Jesus first, others second and yourself last. If you are not enjoying the journey, maybe you should give that some thought. If you are focused on yourself, you are not going to enjoy the journey. I know from personal experience.

Focus on God and serve Him through serving others and the journey will become much more enjoyable.

Have a great day!