No Man Is An Island

January 15, 2015

No Man Is An Island

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others”

Philippians 2:4 (NRSV)

This John Donne poem has long been one of my favorites:

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

When I think of scripture passages which may have inspired Donne to write this poem, I always put the Apostle Paul’s words at the top of my list: “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4 NRSV). The Gospels and the New Testament epistles are quite clear in calling the followers of Jesus to live selfless lives. Too often, Christians tend to write those imperatives off as hyperbole, as evidenced by many translators rendering Paul’s words in Philippians 2:4 as, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too” (NLT), or “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (NKJV). Both the NRSV and the NIV translations of this passage make clear Paul’s interpretation of Jesus’ imperative from his Sermon on the Mount: “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31, 33).

How can we embrace Jesus’, Paul’s (and John Donne’s) prose and incorporate these teaching into our lives as we seek to make the life in Christ our way of life? I have found it helpful to ever keep before me this axiom: “Until you know who you are in Christ, it is impossible to love; all you can do is take.” This is my reminder that I can love Christ because Christ first loved me. I can be compassionate toward myself, because Christ is compassionate to me. Because I am compassionate to myself, I can be compassionate to others. When I am trusting God to meet my needs, I can look not to (my) own interests, but to the interests of others.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ  is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.