The Best Part of Life is Living

I don’t know how many times I have spoken to people who have told me they would be better off dead. That sort of self-defeating attitude is quite commonplace among people with strong selfish tendencies. When you are thinking selfishly, you are devoting all of your time and attention strictly to yourself, and this typically leads to impatience, and hostility toward others and toward life itself. The folks who love life are usually the ones who are getting involved with it, enjoying it and living it to its fullest. They are also usually the ones who are thinking “above” themselves, putting others first.

Christians are told by God to do this. By putting Him first above all else, they learn respect for His will, and they also gain the wonderful gift of humility and gratitude. People who only think of themselves first are never grateful for anything because they expect everything. How can you enjoy life when all around you people are continuously failing to do your bidding, and not satisfying your every whim? It’s definitely a no-win situation. It is so much easier to go through life doing your best to help others when needed, rather than expecting the world to fall all over itself to help you.

Better off dead is the melo-drama of the person too impatient to wait for anything to happen and therefore, usually angry with most every situation in life. They do not really wish to be dead, but rather, are feeling sorry for themselves because they are not getting what they earnestly believe they should be. They want more, bigger, better, and will do just about anything to get it, again, thinking purely selfishly. It never crosses the mind of that sort of person, that perhaps God does not want him or her to have everything handed out on a silver platter. In fact, God rarely crosses the mind of that sort of person anyway.

If we want to really enjoy life and get down to the business of living, we need to practice Jesus’ example to us. He came to this world in humility, as a babe in a manger, and lived His life as a teacher, and as a Servant to others. Jesus leads us who follow Him to also become servants to those around us. Be it ever so humble, there is nothing quite like living your life to help someone else’s life become better. Living a life of service to others is not as difficult as it sounds. Simply giving someone a little comfort in a time of trouble is a service, and so is lending a caring ear so someone else can vent a little when stress gets a bit too high.