No One Lives to Himself

Colin Fletcher was the man who walked through time. That is the name of the book he wrote when he trekked the entire length of the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab Plateau as then defined in 1963. It was quite the feat. Imagine going months on end without seeing a single person. Can you imagine being so isolated, left alone with your own thought and needs? Someone said years ago, “People, people, they cause more trouble than anyone.” The fact is none of us live in a wilderness. None of us walk alone. None of us live or die to or by ourselves. There is something far more.

In II Corinthians 2, Paul is writing to a church that he loved, a church he had to correct for sin that was pretty dire. In verse 1 he says, “But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.” He did not enjoy rebuking them. However, he goes on to say, “For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?” So, he is saying that we don’t live or die to ourselves. I am connected to you and you are connected to me. If I make you sorry, then how can you make me glad. No one lives to or by himself. That is the reason for a couple of important things in life.

First, that is a reason to care. In verse 2 he says, “Who is going to make me happy except those who I have made sad.” Proverbs 3:29 says, “Devise not evil against thy neighbor seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.” What goes around comes around. We need to be aware that our actions affect other people. It is easy to say that something is not my sin, my fault, or my problem and be totally disconnected from the goings-on of people around us. I’m not suggesting we be busybodies, meddlers, or gossips. I am saying we ought to confront sin, confess sin, and engage with people in a way that says we care because no one lives to themselves.

Paul cared. He went on to say, “My joy is the joy of you all” and “not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I had more abundantly unto you.” In other words, Paul rebuked them, which was not pleasant, but it wasn’t because he was trying to be superior or to harm them. It was because he loved them. So, no one lives to self, and that is a reason to care.

Second, it is a reason to forgive. In verse 7, speaking of a specific sin of a specific person whom Paul had confronted in this church, Paul says, “So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him.” He goes on in verse 10, “For your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.” So, no one lives to self and that is a reason to forgive. All of us ought to give what we ourselves will need. If I am going to need money, I ought to be a giver, but I most certainly will need forgiveness at some point. It is all too easy to think, “I am being so noble to forgive them,” and not be aware of areas in which you need the forgiveness of somebody else. None of us should destroy the bridge which we ourselves will have to pass at some point. We don’t live to ourselves and that is a reason to forgive.

Finally, that is a reason to pray. In verse 11 he mentions Satan, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us.” We forgive and confront sin. We do this because we don’t live to ourselves, and because there is a devil. He is in the world. Paul goes on to say that not only is the devil in the world, but we have Christ. We are of Christ, in Christ, for Christ. In verse 10 he says, “For your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.” So, I am in Christ and of Christ. Verse 14 says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” Then, in verse 17 he says, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” In other words, there is a world beyond our own and there is a cause beyond ourselves. That is God.

I don’t go through this world by myself. I have God Almighty if I am a child of God by putting my trust in Jesus Christ. I belong to God, so I don’t go through this world on my own, by my own whims, or by my own thoughts or feeble abilities. I go through life with the person of the Lord Jesus with me. So, I don’t live to myself. I shouldn’t say, “Well, that is not my problem.” I know there is a ditch on both sides. I don’t need to be a busybody or meddler, but I need to give what I will need. I need to be what I ought to be, and that is a reason to care, a reason to forgive, and a reason to pray. Christ goes with you as you live for Him.