I recently read a statement from someone saying, “The secret to a happy life is to stop worrying about everyone else and just worry about yourself.” Maybe I am old or perhaps just naïve but I believe the exact opposite of that statement. In fact, I believe that mindset is why we are in the trouble we are in right now. Men leave their wives and children for another women because they were only worried about themselves. An adult hurts a child because they were only worried about themselves. I actually think most if not all crime manifest from that mindset. I once spoke to a police officer about the reasons crime exist. He told me it comes to one major thing which is selfishness. A drug addict robs someone or even kills someone to get money in order to fulfill their need for more drugs. Car theft comes from a thief wanting something that they did not earn. Now there are those who would say the answer lies in the government to just give everyone equal distributions of everything. That wouldn’t work if selfishness still existed. The selfish person would only want more and end up stealing to get what he or she wanted. The problem in humanity is that we are all born selfish. I have often said this is obvious because you don’t have to teach a child to be selfish. You have to teach them to be giving. You don’t have to teach them to lie. You have to teach them to be honest. So we are left with a dilemma. Do we just go about our daily lives being selfish until eventually we die or kill each other? Is there another way?

As a Christian I truly believe that Jesus came to show us the way. I believe that one of Jesus’s must valuable teachings was that life is not about us. That thought alone should bring freedom. Life is not about me trying to accumulate more for myself. Life is about how what I have in the area of materials, talents, time, and love can be used to help or impact others. That is one of the main things I love about Jiu-Jitsu. It is a tool that I have acquired to help others improve their lives. Without the ability to help others I would be wasting my time training for a fight that will likely never come. John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, If you love one another.” My calling is to love my fellow man. That doesn’t mean that I have to agree with everything he says or does. As a matter of fact often real love is often telling someone why they are wrong.

Today I would like to challenge you to find a way to impact someone’s life. Try putting your needs or desires second and see how you can help someone. It could be as little as buying someone a meal or paying for their gas, to actually sitting down to just listen to them. Through serving our fellowman we will find true joy in this life. Then through Jesus we will find true joy in the next.

Have a blessed day

Joy comes from serving