SIN=SELFISHNESS
06/15/19 00:14 Filed in: Faith
No one likes to be called “selfish.” It is a word that causes us to directly focus on what is wrong with us personally. Yet ALL sin points back to one thing, a selfish tendency to do what feels right, gets me through, or gains me what I want right here, right now. The problem is what happens afterwards. Alienation from our family, maybe our friends, and most importantly from God. And this will confuse us. We thought we were getting or doing what we wanted for our own benefit, but in the end we are left feeling empty, lost, maybe alone and definitely deceived. “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” James 3:16 The remedy? Give up on giving in to your self. Instead, give yourself to God and serve Him. Choose His ways over your own. Allow Him to be the supplier of your needs and stop trying to serve yourself. You can’t have it both ways. You cannot serve self and serve God. That mindset is called doublemindedness: “… purify your hearts, you double-minded;” James 4:8, or God will not give His blessing to such people.” (Revelation 3:16)
How often do we have to “purify”? DAILY! Trust me, you will become selfish again. And again.... And AGAIN! “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23 How often? DAILY!! Not once. Not twice. But all the time and every day. Die to self. Carry your cross. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Luke 9:24
When we give up our life for God’s way of life – our own opinions, desires, the selfish tendencies in our minds and bodies – we get the most rewarding, happy, and fulfilling life possible here on earth, while getting to partake of HIS divine nature. Our relationship with the Creator is restored. We also get back our relationship with others. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 When we overcome selfishness in our own lives, we are saving ourselves, AND we are also helping those around us. “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16 We don’t put others first only when we feel like it, or when we feel people deserve it. We act in love always, for Jesus’s sake, because we love Him, so we want to follow Him always, doing as He would do, and loving others that He also created.
The opposite of sin. SELFLESSNESS.
How often do we have to “purify”? DAILY! Trust me, you will become selfish again. And again.... And AGAIN! “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23 How often? DAILY!! Not once. Not twice. But all the time and every day. Die to self. Carry your cross. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Luke 9:24
When we give up our life for God’s way of life – our own opinions, desires, the selfish tendencies in our minds and bodies – we get the most rewarding, happy, and fulfilling life possible here on earth, while getting to partake of HIS divine nature. Our relationship with the Creator is restored. We also get back our relationship with others. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 When we overcome selfishness in our own lives, we are saving ourselves, AND we are also helping those around us. “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16 We don’t put others first only when we feel like it, or when we feel people deserve it. We act in love always, for Jesus’s sake, because we love Him, so we want to follow Him always, doing as He would do, and loving others that He also created.
The opposite of sin. SELFLESSNESS.