"For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” Romans 15:3
When we start in life one of the most important things to learn is to remember. We must try very hard not to forget the instruction of our parents, and the teachings of the Bible and the lessons we learn at school. All these things we must remember, if we are to grow up wise and good. But there are also many things that we must learn to forget. We must try to forget the wicked stories that we hear, and the evil pictures that we see, and all the mean and unkind things that we find out about other people. And there is something else that we must try to forget and that is‚ ourselves. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, suffering such awful agony, He did not think of Himself at all. It was only of the poor men who had fastened Him to the cross, and He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." There is a very good woman not very far from us. I heard someone say about her one day, ''She is the very best woman who ever lived." And then he went on to tell me why he thought so: "She never thinks about herself. It is always about others." What a fine thing to be said of anyone! If you want to be happy, and if you want to be loved by others, forget yourself, and you will be both.
This week I read the story of an old man in Japan. There was a little village at the foot of a high hill along the seashore, and up on that hill, high above the shore, the old man lived with his little grandson, who was ten years old. He had worked hard all his life and owned the little house where they lived.
One evening in June, 1896, he was standing in the doorway of his house with his grandson beside him. The day's work was done and they were looking out to sea, when all at once there came a great earthquake, such as they very often have in Japan. The house swayed and shook, but it didn't fall down, for they make their houses in Japan so they will stand up when earthquakes come. But the old man saw that the sea was running out, miles away from the shore. Long before when he was a young man he had seen the sea do that after an earthquake, and he knew just what was going to happen. The people in the village had seen the strange sight and ran down to the beach to look at it. The old man knew what they didn't know, that in a little while that sea would come rolling in, as a great tidal wave and destroy the whole village. So he called his grandson and told him to bring him a lighted torch. He took the torch and set fire to the thatch on the roof of his house. The little boy began to cry. He thought the earthquake had made his grandfather crazy. Down in the village the people saw the blaze and they came running up the hill. The fire bell began to ring and the people who were on the seashore ran back, too. Some young men were the first to reach the fire and they tried to put it out, but the old man would not let them.'' Let it burn," he said. ''I want the whole village here." The men thought it was very strange and asked the grandson about it. He said, "Grandfather is growing mad. I saw him set the house on fire on purpose." ''Yes," said the grandfather, "I did set it on fire. Are the people of the village all here?" They looked and told him that they were all there. "Now," said he, "look at the sea."They looked, and they saw the water like a great cliff, rolling in toward the land. On and on it came and swept over the village, and almost came up to where they were, and when the water went back there was not a sign of the village left. It was all gone. Then they knew why the old man had set fire to his house and burned up everything that he had. It was to save them. He never thought of himself and his hard work all his life to earn enough to own that house. He only thought of them.
That is what Jesus wants us to do, forget ourselves and think of others. S. N. Hutchison
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