Romans 15:1-3 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.… Selfishness is — I. AN UGLY THING. One thing that helps to make our bodies look beautiful is when the different parts are all of a proper size or shape. But suppose we should see a boy or girl with a head as big as a bushel, and with feet as large as an elephant's! And when we give way to wrong feelings one part of the soul becomes larger than it ought to be. There is nothing that makes a person look so ugly as selfishness. 1. Anne Dawson was a little girl, lying in bed with a fever. In the same room was her brother, busily engaged in making a boat. The noise was very distressing, and his sister begged him to stop. But he still went on. Presently she said, "Robbie dear, please get me a glass of cold water? My throat is very dry, and my head aches terribly." But Robbie paid no attention till she asked a second time, when he called out sharply: "Wait awhile, Anne, I am too busy now." Again his sister pleaded for a drink. Then he hastily poured out some water from a pitcher which had been standing all day in the sun. "Oh I not that water, brother," said Anne, in a gentle tone, "please bring me some fresh and cool from the spring." "Don't bother me so, Anne. You see how busy I am. I'm sure this water is good enough." And the selfish boy went on. "Oh, my poor head!" said Anne, as she sipped a little of the warm water, and then lay back on her pillow. That was her last movement. She died that night. For thousands of gold and silver I would not have had Robert's feelings when he stood by the grave of his sister and thought of all this. We cannot imagine anything more ugly than this makes him appear. 2. But sometimes we can understand a thing better by contrasting it with its opposite. Some time ago an accident occurred in a coal mine. Two boys managed to get hold of a chain, and had the hope of being saved if they could hold on till help came. Very soon a man was lowered down, and he first came to a boy named Daniel Harding, who said: "Don't mind me. I can hold on a little longer; but there is Joe Brown just below nearly exhausted. Save him first." Joe Brown was Saved, and so was his unselfish friend. How beautiful his unselfishness makes him appear! II. A DISAGREEABLE THING. When the things about us mind the laws which God has made to govern them, then they are all agreeable. The light is pleasant to see; the wind is pleasant to hear; and the fragrance of flowers is pleasant to smell, just because the sun, wind, and flowers act according to the laws which God has made for them. And God's law for us is, that "we ought not to please ourselves." If we mind this law it will make us unselfish, and then we shall always be agreeable. But if we do not mind this law, this will make us disagreeable. 1. A Christian lady talking to her class, said, "When I was a little girl, my grandma, who was dangerously ill when I was playing with my doll, asked me to bring her a glass of water. I did not mind her at first, but when she called me again, I carried the water to her in a very unkind way. She said, ' Thank you, my dear child; but it would have given me so much more pleasure if you had only brought the water willingly.' She never asked me to do anything for her again, for soon after she died. It is forty years ago to-day since this took place; and yet there is a sore spot in my heart which it left there, and which I must carry with me as long as I live." 2. And now we may take some illustrations in the way of contrast. Two little girls nestling together in bed one night were talking about their Aunt Bessie, who happened to be passing at that moment. So she listened and heard Minnie say, "Do you know what it is that makes my Aunt Bessie's forehead so smooth?" "Why, yes, she isn't old enough to have wrinkles." "Oh! she is, though; but her forehead is smooth because she is so unselfish, and never frets. I always like to hear her read the Bible, for she lives just like the Bible. She's just as sweet, and kind, and unselfish as it tells us to be. And this is what makes Aunt Bessie so pleasant." Our next story is about Turner, the great landscape painter, who was a member of the committee which arranges about hanging up the pictures in the Royal Academy. On one occasion when they were just finishing their work, Turner's attention was called to a picture by an unknown artist who had no friend in the Academy to watch over his interest. "That is an excellent picture," said Mr. Turner. "It must be hung up somewhere for exhibition." "That is impossible," said the other members of the committee. "There is no room left." Whereupon the generous artist deliberately took down one of his own pictures, and put the painting of this unknown artist in its place. In what an interesting light his unselfishness presents him to our view! III. A SINFUL THING. When we commit sin in most other ways we only break one of God's commandments at a time. But when we give way to selfishness we break six of God's commandments all at once. How? Well, when Jesus was explaining the ten commandments, He said that the substance of the six on the second table was, that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. But, if we are selfish we cannot love our neighbours. Selfishness is the root out of which any sin may grow. It is like carrying powder about us in a place where sparks are flying all the time. A dreadful explosion may take place at any moment. Many years ago there lived in Egypt an old man named Amin. A great famine came upon the land just as it once did in the days of Joseph. Amin had a great store of wheat in his granaries. When bread began to get scarce his neighbours came to him to buy grain. But he refused, saying that he was going to keep his stock till all the rest of the grain in the land was gone, because then he would be able to get a higher price for it. Many died of starvation, and yet this selfish man still kept his stores locked up. At last the hungry people were willing to give him any price he asked, and then with a cruel, selfish smile he took the iron key of his great granary. He opened the door and went in. But in a moment all his hopes of great gain faded away like a dream. Worms had entered and destroyed all his grain. Hungry as the people were they yet raised a great shout of gladness for what happened to that wretched man. They saw that it was God's judgment which had come down upon him for his selfishness, and that it served him right. But such was the effect of his disappointment upon the old man himself, that he fell down dead at the door of the granary. His selfishness killed him. (R. Newton, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.WEB: Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves. |
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