Help Yourself First

 

When I fly on an airplane (actually, that’s the only way that I fly), the flight attendant always goes through the emergency drill instructions.  I usually tune her out because I could probably give her speech from memory.  But one part of her speech sticks out in my memory: “Please put on your oxygen mask first, and then help others around you.”  Now that may seem selfish to you, but it isn’t.  If you don’t put on YOUR mask first, you will obviously pass out and not be able to help anyone else with their mask.  Duh!  Hey, that’s the way it is with the Christian life as well.  We must examine ourselves and get our own hearts right BEFORE we can assist anyone else.  That’s one of the main points of communion: we must examine ourselves first.  Paul said it well in I Corinthians 11:28 “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”  God can only use a clean life.  Look at your life first, and then help others. Don’t TELL someone how to live the Christian life; SHOW them how to live the Christian life by your example.