Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24
“The hardest thing to see about ourselves is our own self-interest. The greatest impediment to change, no matter how positive it might be, is our self-interest. The greatest threat to the Kingdom of God moving powerfully in our midst is not our opponents. It’s our self-interest. Self interest is a reality. It’s when we fail to acknowledge and be aware of it that it becomes a risk.
It’s why Jesus will later say whoever wants to be His disciple must deny their selves. He will say that whoever wants to save their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for His sake will keep it. The gospel goes for the jugular when it comes to self-interest. Here’s the good news. Jesus doesn’t ask us to lay our self interest aside as some kind of act of self abnegation.
No, He reveals to us a far greater interest to take its place—the all consuming, glorious, unparalleled interest of the Kingdom of God. Real faith is coming to the place of actually trusting that if we make Jesus’ interest our chief concern, he will make our interest his chief concern. Remember Matthew 6:33? Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”
J.D. Walt in “What to Look for When You Don’t Understand What’s Going On” Seedbed Daily Text for 10 June 2016. J.D. is a dear brother whose writing ministers to me, especially when I am traveling. Subscribe to his blog if you want more good stuff.
I preached at Toongabbie Anglican Church, west of Sydney, today. The minister there, Raj Gupta, was one of my doctoral students back in 2013 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In response to my message, I pray that this church will set aside or exchange self-interest for something far greater: participation in God’s kingdom.
My avenue for communicating this today was the picture of sowing. Those who are distracted by earthly, self-interest will sow sparingly, and in so doing, reap sparingly (that is, experience minimal fruitfulness in God’s Kingdom work). Alternatively, those who sow their lives and resources generously to make known the gospel, will of course, reap generously.
What about you?
On my part, I have found that self-interest can be my own worst enemy to participating generously in God’s work. To combat it, I have transparent relationships with friends to hold me accountable. It’s why my wife and I live on a budget to put bumpers in our lives so that our lives exhibit “enjoyment and sharing” (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19) rather than “self-indulgence” (cf. Galatians 5:13-14). Without intentional effort, our self-interest will at the very least, limit our own fruitfulness.