I only fly two or three times a year, so this probably strikes me differently than it would many of you, but when the flight attendant is giving instructions about the use of your oxygen mask, I still cringe a little.

“If the cabin looses sufficient pressure, a mask will drop down from your over-head compartment.  Secure the mask around your head like this, and breathe normally.  Don’t be concerned if the bag doesn’t inflate.  If you are traveling with a child or someone who needs assistance, secure your own oxygen mask first, and then offer assistance to your companion.”

            This is correct procedure, certainly, but to me it is counter-intuitive.  If there was a lack of oxygen, and my child (or anyone’s child) was struggling for breath, my impulse would be to get their mask on first.  What would happen, in a stressful, oxygen-deprived atmosphere, is that I would fumble around, and black out before I got the child’s mask secure, and we would both suffocate.  This is a pleasant thought with which to start the week, I know, but it is a scenario I replay in my head every time the flight attendant stands up with buckle and bag to give the pre-flight safety instruction.

            It is an important reminder.  Keeping ourselves strong and ready is needful.  We might think such attention to self must be selfish, and it certainly can be.  But inattention to self can be just as selfish - and much more destructive.

            Jesus reminds us in Matthew 7.1ff to remove the beam from our own eye first, so that we can help our brother remove the mote from his eye.  This is attention to self first – but with a purpose – attention to self so that we may be strong and ready to help others.  We who are strong ought to bear with the weakness of those without strength, and not please ourselves (Romans 15.1).

            We are not self-sufficient.  We are not, of ourselves, sufficiently strong to face the devil, and the challenges of a sinful world.  We need to bear each other up (Galatians 6.2), and draw strength from God (I Peter 4.11), whose strength is perfected in our own weakness (II Corinthians 12.10).  Notice, however, from the passages above, that we are given sources of strength – not excuses for weakness.  Because we have Him, and have each other through Him, we can be strong for each other, and for Him.

            We (together) have been gives the resources of spiritual maturity, health, and vigor – and are expected to mature, and grow strong (Ephesians 4.1-16).  The time we spend praying, studying, thinking, praising, enjoying fellowship – the time we spend cultivating that strength is not a selfish use of time if we are making ourselves strong for each other.

BE ON THE ALERT!  STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH.  ACT LIKE MEN.  BE STRONG!  (I Corinthians 6.13)  -capitalizations, bold lettering, and exclamation marks my own, but I think they are warranted by the text.

            I can think of nothing more selfish than being willfully weak.  Since we know that strongest of us will need bearing up at times, the most selfless thing we can do is make ourselves strong for each other.

            Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. (Ephesians 6.10)