“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, May Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: Yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: They made long their furrows. The LORD is righteous: He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turned back That hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth afore it groweth up: Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the LORD be upon you: We bless you in the name of the LORD.”
Psalm 129:1-8 KJV,https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.129.1-8.KJV
Created to Love Others
When we believe in Jesus and live our lives following after Him, we get to experience His grace and mercy every day! We get to walk in new life and new ways of thinking about God's creation and our place in it. Not to mention, we can rest knowing we are God's own children!
But it can be just as easy to live life thinking only of ourselves and the good things we have received. Jesus spent most of His ministry helping and assisting others, but if we're being honest—and Jesus was always honest, too—most of us have a tendency to be selfish with God's gifts, or ignore opportunities to serve the weak or needy in our everyday lives.
As Paul was speaking to the leaders at the church in Ephesus in Acts 20:35, he made sure to remind them that his life has not been about himself, but about helping others. Paul says that everything he has done has been about helping those who are weak and in need. Paul didn't say these things to boast about himself, he said them to point back to ...