Beyond Self Fulfillment

Today I read an article by Phillip Yancey that made me consider the following idea on Self Fulfillment, or rather, moving beyond self fulfillment. The NT for example urges us to avoid lawsuits, waving our rights in some circumstances, in order to attract others to faith in Christ.

Paul himself said, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible..." As we move beyond self fulfillment, we will begin to see the needs of others. Isn't that what Paul was talking about in Philippians when he said, "look not everyone man on his own things but every man also on the things of others"? I see this also in the daily course of a parent...to be a parent is truly "beyond self fulfillment." And for some, we find great fulfillment in filling the lives of our children. Robert Browning said, "Such ever was Love's way...to rise, it stoops."

God yearns, according to Yancey, "for us to grow toward the parenting stage of sacrificial love, which most accurately reflects God's own nature. We draw near to God in likeness when we give ourselves away. In fact, as Jean Vanier insists, we need this further stage as an essential part of spiritual development; it teaches what we might otherwise never learn."