Selfishness is the opposite of love and as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:5, "Love does not seek its own." That being said, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was guilty of not truly and sincerely loving my husband. You see, in my marriage, I didn't see my selfishness as the anti-thesis of love. I would say "I love you" yet betrayed those words by displaying selfishness in my actions. What a hypocrite I had become! I justified my needs more important than my spouse and made decisions out of love for myself. I had different set of standards and expectations of myself and of others, my own lower and of and from my spouse, higher. While I thought what a challenge it was to love my husband selflessly, I failed to realize that it was also hard for him to love me, maybe even harder. I do admit that on this day I was dared to be extra selfless, my deep-rooted selfishness surfaced. But because I now know the cost if I didn't, I prayed for grace.
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Lord, I have been selfish for a very long time. I have been too wrapped up in what will give me happiness, what will please me, all of which were rooted from bitterness, arrogance, and self-love. All these years, I justified my decisions with pride and more conceit, putting all my own best interest in the front line instead of those of the one I love, saying I deserve it and that he owed me. Forgive me. Take away this selfishness and replace it with genuine love, putting his happiness, interests, desires and priorities first before my own; that I may say "yes" to his needs more with a sincere and accepting heart, one without resentment when he can't deliver mine. Teach me and reveal to me the greater purpose of my marriage and guide me that all my decisions from hereon be made out of pure love for him, and not for myself. Amen.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.
-- Romans 12:10
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
~~ Philippians 2:3
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Lord, I have been selfish for a very long time. I have been too wrapped up in what will give me happiness, what will please me, all of which were rooted from bitterness, arrogance, and self-love. All these years, I justified my decisions with pride and more conceit, putting all my own best interest in the front line instead of those of the one I love, saying I deserve it and that he owed me. Forgive me. Take away this selfishness and replace it with genuine love, putting his happiness, interests, desires and priorities first before my own; that I may say "yes" to his needs more with a sincere and accepting heart, one without resentment when he can't deliver mine. Teach me and reveal to me the greater purpose of my marriage and guide me that all my decisions from hereon be made out of pure love for him, and not for myself. Amen.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.
-- Romans 12:10
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
~~ Philippians 2:3