The Selflessness of God

John 16:13-14

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

One of the greatest attributes of God is His selflessness.

If you were to ask the average Christian if God wants glory they would respond affirmatively. It is very true that God will share His glory with no man. Isaiah 42:8 shows us this when it says, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another..."

Yet, the glory that God will not share with another is not something that each part of the Godhead wants for Himself. It is interesting that when you look at each part of the Godhead you will notice that They never point to themselves. Notice in the verse above that the Spirit of God glorifies the Son of God. Yet, John 14:10 says, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Notice, the Son does not speak of Himself, but He points others to the Father. John 17:1 says, "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:" Notice again that the Father will glorify the Son. Do you see it? Each part of the Godhead does not point to Themselves, but they point to each other.

This is one of the missing traits in Christianity. At the core we are selfish people. We are concerned with what people think of us. Yet, if we copied the example of God, we would never be concerned with what people think of us, but we would be concerned with glorifying God. Until the Christian becomes selfless in all that they do, they will never find that God will use them in a great way. God will only glorify those who glorify Him.

Let me take this thought into our relationships. A home where each individual is wrapped up in what they want will never find the joy in their relationships. A home that finds the fullest joy is the home where each individual points to each other and they all try to glorify God in all that they do.

The church that wants to thrive must be a church where each member becomes selfless. Too many churches are filled with people fighting for who gets the glory over a success. Staff members fight with each other or undercut each other to see who gets recognized by the pastor. Ministry workers squabble with each other over the desire to be recognized as the greater. A church that is consumed with self-glory is a church that will fall apart. If your church is going to succeed in reaching its community, then each member must become selfless and not seek glory.

Finally, you will never become a great leader in your walk of life if all you do is point to yourself. Friend, if you lead people then you should give them the glory for each success in the workplace. Great leaders deflect the glory from themselves and give their followers the recognition they deserve. In return their followers will lift up their leader. If every individual in each walk of life would not seek the glory for themselves, they would find that each person would get the recognition they deserve.

If you truly want to be like God, then you must never point to yourself. If each part of the Godhead never pointed to themselves, then that is the key to getting along in relationships. You will find that when you become selfless that you will find true satisfaction in life.