“We can overcome evil with greater good.” – Laura Bush

“Self-sacrifice or to deny yourself something, for a greater good or a cause or a principle, or an ideal or simply to make others happy is an experience worth having several times in a lifetime.” – Valentine Waturuocha

“People always choose self-preservation over the greater good, most of the time, with the belief that self-preservation IS the greater good.” – Dana Loesch

This subject, without a doubt, has to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever written about.

Imagine a crystal-clear mirror that perfectly reflects the image standing in front of it.  This particular mirror reflects back the details (often forgotten or suppressed) of your life – showing the history of one’s actions, words and deeds.  As I personally stand before it, I am ashamed of what I see staring back at me when it comes to my role in serving a higher, greater good – serving and sacrificing an aspect of my life for something larger than myself.

I know I’m not alone.  It’s a subject and standard that is hard to measure one’s life against.  Not only do we live in a world that naturally opposes the idea of a greater good, it is a natural part of our human nature and ego to believe (as Dana Loesch states above) that self-preservation IS THE GREATER GOOD.   Very sad….but a tremendous reality.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not pointing fingers.  I see it within my own life and have been thinking very hard recently about what steps I need to take in order to change it.

I know we cannot all be Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., or the Dalai Lama, but the question remains – What ARE we doing or what CAN be done within the confines of our own life, surrounding the people we touch, and within our small slice of the world we occupy to serve a higher, greater good?

I’m not talking about BEING good.  I’m talking about living the kind of life that sacrifices self-desires and needs for the betterment of a family, a group, or a community.

“Greater love has no one than this; that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13 ESV

We read this Scripture verse and think about the idea of literally dying for someone.  I think of the men who stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy – knowing before they did that many of them wouldn’t survive.  They didn’t know any of the French people who they were fighting to liberate.  They fought for the principle of freedom from tyranny – willing to lay down their own life, their own dreams, and their own desires for that higher/greater good.

But this verse doesn’t necessarily mean death and the end of life.  “Laying down your life” can be done in so many different ways.  Caring for a family member that cannot help themselves – at the cost of your own dreams and desires.  It can be sacrificing your own happiness for your children and the betterment of their life.  It can be doing something ethical for another person when all you want to do is the opposite – hurting yourself in the process, but doing right by them.  It can be loving someone so much that you let them go – suffering without them, but knowing they will have a better, more fulfilling life without you.

Can you see the higher/greater good that is served within these examples?  Can you see the sacrifice?  Can you see how it serves someone else other than yourself?  As the Scriptures say….”There is no greater love than this!”

It can be volunteering at the homeless shelter – footing the bill for a homemade dinner that you make, serving it up with a group of your friends, and offering encouragement and support where you can.  It’s mentoring youth, helping the elderly, and being a sacrificial spouse, parent, or sibling for your family – putting their needs before your own.

At work, it’s forgetting about the corporate politics, climbing the ladder, and positioning yourself for the next promotion.  It’s using your position for the higher/greater good of all – regardless if it is politically correct or not.  It’s speaking up when the rules aren’t ethical or just – when they are void of sound, moral principle.

It’s caring enough about your community to get involved – not just talk about it, but to actually GET INVOVLED.  It’s setting aside your own time to help your neighbors and make the town you reside in a better place for everyone who lives there.  For some of you, it’s becoming a school board member, running for local office, and being the kind of leader and example that we all so desperately need right now.  People tend to RUN from politics because it is FILLED WITH SELF-PRESERVATION.  Good, decent people who have a higher/greater good in mind to serve their country and community – those kinds of people are hard to find!  Could you be one of these people?  Would you be willing to sacrifice your time and your desires to serve a higher/greater good?

I pray that I’ve sparked some thought tonight – getting you to think hard and analyze your own life in terms of serving and sacrificing for something larger then yourself.  As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been thinking hard about these tough questions myself and how they apply to my own life.

Don’t we all want to leave this world better than when we arrived?  Is it about self-fulfillment and self-preservation…..or is it truly about making the lives of those around you better – living a life that counts in the larger scheme of things?

Let’s together create, cultivate, nurture and sustain the higher/greater good!  Let’s actively seek out ways to touch the lives of those around us – to suffer, sacrifice and serve – loving them in the greatest of ways!  If we do our part, the world will become a much better place for everyone my friend 🙂

God bless!