67 Bible Verses about Unselfishness

Of myself I am unable to do anything: as the voice comes to me so I give a decision: and my decision is right because I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself, but only what is pleasing to him who sent me.

For Christ did not give pleasure to himself, but, as it is said, The bitter words of those who were angry with you came on me.

And Jesus got his disciples together and said, I have pity for the people, because they have now been with me three days and have no food: and I will not send them away without food, or they will have no strength for the journey.

Jesus, being conscious that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God, Got up from table, put off his robe and took a cloth and put it round him. Then he put water into a basin and was washing the feet of the disciples and drying them with the cloth which was round him.

For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.

Let it not be so among you: but if anyone has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant; And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place: Even as the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

But it is not so among you: but whoever has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant: And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him be servant of all. For truly the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God; But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men;read more.
And being seen in form as a man, he took the lowest place, and let himself be put to death, even the death of the cross.

Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him. But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come. But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.read more.
We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all. Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word. They took away from him help and right, and who gave a thought to his fate? for he was cut off from the land of the living: he came to his death for the sin of my people. And they put his body into the earth with sinners, and his last resting-place was with the evil-doers, though he had done no wrong, and no deceit was in his mouth. And the Lord was pleased ... see a seed, long life, ... will do well in his hand. ... ... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself. For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

For this reason am I loved by the Father, because I give up my life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me; I give it up of myself. I have power to give it up, and I have power to take it again. These orders I have from my Father.

For when we were still without strength, at the right time Christ gave his life for evil-doers. Now it is hard for anyone to give his life even for an upright man, though it might be that for a good man someone would give his life. But God has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us.

For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;

For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

Who was put to death for us, so that, awake or sleeping, we may have a part in his life.

Who did no evil, and there was no deceit in his mouth: To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness: He took our sins on himself, giving his body to be nailed on the tree, so that we, being dead to sin, might have a new life in righteousness, and by his wounds we have been made well.

Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;

Who gave himself as an offering for all; witness of which was to be given at the right time;

Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross, and come after me.

And turning to the mass of people with his disciples, he said to them, If any man has the desire to come after me, let him give up all other desires, and take up his cross and come after me.

And he said to them all, If any man has a desire to come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross every day, and come after me.

For truly the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

Being conscious that our old man was put to death on the cross with him, so that the body of sin might be put away, and we might no longer be servants to sin.

And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead.

That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit;

Do not make false statements to one another; because you have put away the old man with all his doings,

For to me life is Christ and death is profit. But if I go on living in the flesh--if this is the fruit of my work--then I do not see what decision to make. I am in a hard position between the two, having a desire to go away and be with Christ, which is very much better:read more.
Still, to go on in the flesh is more necessary because of you.

But those things which were profit to me, I gave up for Christ. Yes truly, and I am ready to give up all things for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which is more than all: for whom I have undergone the loss of all things, and to me they are less than nothing, so that I may have Christ as my reward, And be seen in him, not having my righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:read more.
That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death; If in any way I may have the reward of life from the dead.

Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,

If then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another's feet clean. I have given you an example, so that you may do what I have done to you.

In this we see what love is, because he gave his life for us; and it is right for us to give our lives for the brothers.

We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us. If a man says, I have love for God, and has hate for his brother, his words are false: for how is the man who has no love for his brother whom he has seen, able to have love for God whom he has not seen? And this is the word which we have from him, that he who has love for God is to have the same love for his brother.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith, Gentle behaviour, control over desires: against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires.read more.
If we are living by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us be guided. Let us not be full of self-glory, making one another angry, having envy of one another.

Be kind to one another with a brother's love, putting others before yourselves in honour;

We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good. Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good.

For every man's life and every man's death has a relation to others as well as to himself.

We who are strong have to be a support to the feeble, and not give pleasure to ourselves. Let every one of us give pleasure to his neighbour for his good, to make him strong.

But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble.

Being gentle to one another and having forgiveness for one another, if anyone has done wrong to his brother, even as the Lord had forgiveness for you:

And to do good, having wealth in good works, being quick to give, taking part with one another;

Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself;

Be in harmony with one another. Do not have a high opinion of yourselves, but be in agreement with common people. Do not give yourselves an air of wisdom.

Take on yourselves one another's troubles, and so keep the law of Christ. For if a man has an idea that he is something when he is nothing, he is tricked by himself.

With all gentle and quiet behaviour, taking whatever comes, putting up with one another in love;

Letting yourselves be ruled by one another in the fear of Christ.

Last of all, see that you are all in agreement; feeling for one another, loving one another like brothers, full of pity, without pride:

And in the same way, let the younger men be ruled by the older ones. Let all of you put away pride and make yourselves ready to be servants: for God is a hater of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low.

But let it not be so with you; but he who is greater, let him become like the younger; and he who is chief, like a servant.

Because you, brothers, were marked out to be free; only do not make use of your free condition to give the flesh its chance, but through love be servants one to another.

Making distribution among one another of whatever has been given to you, like true servants of the unmeasured grace of God;

Keep watch over the flock of God which is in your care, using your authority, not as forced to do so, but gladly; and not for unclean profit but with a ready mind;

Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers. Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold; But now, if you will give them forgiveness--but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.

But Ruth said, Give up requesting me to go away from you, or to go back without you: for where you go I will go; and where you take your rest I will take my rest; your people will be my people, and your God my God. Wherever death comes to you, death will come to me, and there will be my last resting-place; the Lord do so to me and more if we are parted by anything but death.

Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man. Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness.

Now from the time when I was made ruler of the people in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year till the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, for twelve years, I and my servants have never taken the food which was the right of the ruler. But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.read more.
And more than this, a hundred and fifty of the Jews and the rulers were guests at my table, in addition to those who came to us from the nations round about us. Now the food made ready for one day was one ox and six fat sheep, as well as fowls; and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine: but all the same, I did not take the food to which the ruler had a right, because the people were crushed under a hard yoke.

And he took a seat by the place where the money was kept, and saw how the people put money into the boxes: and a number who had wealth put in much. And there came a poor widow, and she put in two little bits of money, which make a farthing. And he made his disciples come to him, and said to them, Truly I say to you, This poor widow has put in more than all those who are putting money into the box:read more.
Because they all put in something out of what they had no need for; but she out of her need put in all she had, even all her living.

And Jesus went away from there into the country of Tyre and Sidon. And a woman of Canaan came out from those parts, crying and saying, Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is greatly troubled with an unclean spirit. But he gave her no answer. And his disciples came and said to him, Send her away, for she is crying after us.read more.
But he made answer and said, I was sent only to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and gave him worship, saying, Help, Lord. And he made answer and said, It is not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs. But she said, Yes, Lord: but even the dogs take the bits from under their masters' table. Then Jesus, answering, said to her, O woman, great is your faith: let your desire be done. And her daughter was made well from that hour.

Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, There came to him a woman having a bottle of perfume of great price, and she put the perfume on his head when he was seated at table. But when the disciples saw it they were angry, saying, To what purpose is this waste?read more.
For we might have got much money for this and given it to the poor. But Jesus, seeing it, said to them, Why are you troubling the woman? she has done a kind act to me. For the poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever. For in putting this perfume on my body, she did it to make me ready for my last resting-place. Truly I say to you, Wherever this good news goes out in all the world, what this woman has done will be talked of in memory of her.

And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, seated at table, there came a woman with a bottle of perfumed oil of great price; and when the bottle was broken she put the perfume on his head. But some of them were angry among themselves, saying, For what purpose has this oil been wasted? We might have got more than three hundred pence for it, and given the money to the poor. And they said things against her among themselves.read more.
But Jesus said, Let her be; why are you troubling her? she has done a kind act to me. The poor you have ever with you, and whenever you have the desire you may do them good: but me you have not for ever. She has done what she was able: she has put oil on my body to make it ready for its last resting-place. And truly I say to you, Wherever the good news goes out through all the earth, what this woman has done will be talked of in memory of her.

And this was John's answer: A man is unable to have anything if it is not given to him from heaven. You yourselves give witness that I said, I am not the Christ. What I said was, I am sent before the Christ. He who has the bride is the husband: but the husband's friend, whose place is by his side and whose ears are open to him, is full of joy because of the husband's voice: such is my joy, and it is complete.read more.
He has to become greater while I become less.

And all those who were of the faith were one in heart and soul: and not one of them said that any of the things which he had was his property only; but they had all things in common. And with great power the Apostles gave witness of the coming back of the Lord Jesus from the dead; and grace was on them all. And no one among them was in need; for everyone who had land or houses, exchanging them for money, took the price of them,read more.
And put it at the feet of the Apostles for distribution to everyone as he had need. And Joseph, who was given by the Apostles the name of Barnabas (the sense of which is, Son of comfort), a Levite and a man of Cyprus by birth, Having a field, got money for it and put the money at the feet of the Apostles.

Give my love to Prisca and Aquila, workers with me in Christ Jesus, Who for my life put their necks in danger; to whom not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are in debt:

Now I make my request to you, my brothers, for you have knowledge that the house of Stephanas is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have made themselves the servants of the saints,

For I have no man of like mind who will truly have care for you. For they all go after what is theirs, not after the things of Christ.

So take him to your hearts in the Lord with all joy, and give honour to such as he is: Because for the work of Christ he was near to death, putting his life in danger to make your care for me complete.

Give no cause of trouble to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God. Even as I give way to all men in all things, not looking for profit for myself, but for the good of others, that they may get salvation.

So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine.