Give yourself the gift of getting over yourself

Eight months. That’s how long it’s been since COVID-19 erupted on the global stage and disrupted our lives.

Do you remember when the immensity of the virus and its impact became real to you? For me, it was around the time when I heard COVID-19 compared to a blizzard, winter, and ice age.

Blizzard was the best-case scenario. But as someone who grew up right outside of Boston, I remember what it was like when our hometown experienced winter Nor’easters. When we heard the news of an impending blizzard, my family filled the bathtub, so we would have water; found lanterns and candles in the (likely) case of power outages; and hunkered down to weather the storm.

In many ways, my response to the coronavirus pandemic was similar. Our team realized that every single aspect of HOPE’s operations and every single country where we served would be affected. As those early days unfolded, I remember getting ready to hunker down. We had to preserve cash. We had to ensure the organizational lifelines were in place. The emphasis was on the institution of HOPE International and on our organizational preparation for the blizzard.

But everything changed April 12.

As my family and I awoke, we did what has happened for the past 2,000 years. We greeted each other with three of the most powerful words ever spoken: He. Is. Risen. As we worshipped virtually with our church family and celebrated our risen Savior, my eyes slowly lifted off my fears, my needs, my efforts, my inconveniences, my plans … me. Instead, we remembered together that our God victoriously overcame death. We looked up to a God who showed us sacrificial love, who led with humility and grace, who challenged the pharisaical focus on self, who honored those overlooked or in need, and who invites us to follow.

That Sunday morning, fears became smaller as we remembered our risen Savior. We reminded each other that God is greater than our greatest challenges. And we discovered that it’s impossible to be preoccupied with worshipping God while being preoccupied with ourselves.

In The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness, Tim Keller writes, “The essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself—it is thinking of myself less.”

Celebrating the Resurrection shifted my perspective from looking inward and protecting an organization to refocusing our efforts outward. It was an opportunity to reject self-focus and organizational self-preservation. The cross and empty tomb cause us to remember that God always seems to do the greatest work in the midst of the greatest turmoil.

As the turbulence of 2020 continues, I need to keep returning to the Resurrection—renewing a focus upward and outward.

In fear and turmoil, what would it look like to take our eyes off ourselves and our own concerns? … To simply think of ourselves less? … To serve instead of focusing on self-preservation? … To love just a little more and worry just a little less? How might our communities look different if we lived and loved with this outward focus?

In this season, let’s give ourselves the gift of getting over ourselves and, in following our Savior’s example, choose to serve others with generous and sacrificial love.

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

Philippians 2:1-4, MSG