Last week I talked about discovering God’s will and joining Him rather than seeking His will for our lives. Our pursuit is misguided when we make life primarily about us.

This requires a huge paradigm shift in our thinking. And we’re not just talking about rearranging the office furniture or changing our schedules. Sportscaster Harry Kalas once introduced Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Gary Maddox with: “He’s turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he’s miserable and depressed.”

A complete reorientation shifts our perspective from self to others, from the temporal to the eternal, and ultimately from short-lived happiness to enduring joy. It recalibrates our focus from what we get out of the world to what we add to it. And more to the point, it measures success in terms of developing people versus using them for self-advancement or personal benefit.

Robert K. Greenleaf, founder of the modern servant leadership movement and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, once asked some questions that test the true nature of servant leaders: “What is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

Greenleaf firmly believed that servant leaders must focus primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. And I believe that everyone thrives in a world defined more by giving than by getting. Perhaps that’s why Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”