Helping people brings great fulfilment. When we spend our day serving others, we can draw joy from the fact that we’re demonstrating God’s love. And even if we’ve so far spent a lot of our lives being selfish and forgetting others, it’s not too late to have a change of heart. Even Charles Dickens’ Scrooge discovered you can turn your life around and make a difference for others. That’s what Alfred Nobel did. He was shocked when he saw his obituary in a newspaper. His brother had died, but the editor mistakenly named Alfred and printed an uncomplimentary statement about his life because the explosives his company produced and profited from had killed many people. That wake-up call prompted Nobel to vow that he would spend the rest of his life promoting peace and acknowledging contributions to humanity. That’s how Nobel Prizes came into being! When we get outside of ourselves and make a contribution to others, we really begin to live. Unselfishness is its own reward; it’s not dependent on the response of others. This is the principle that guided the apostle Paul: ‘I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me’ (v.15 NLT). Of all the qualities we can wish for and pursue, unselfishness seems to make the biggest difference towards cultivating other virtues. It goes against human nature, so being unselfish and servant-hearted can be a struggle at first. But if we can learn to think unselfishly and become givers, it becomes easier to develop other virtues, such as gratitude, love, respect, patience, and discipline.

What Now?

Who do you know that’s always willing to give, help and serve others? Ask God to bless them today, and then see if there’s anything you could do to help them.