It happens on a weekly basis, at the very least, but often much more frequently. My wife will ask me to do something—put away the laundry, help to clean the house, run an errand—and my first thought is about whether I really want to do that. I don’t plan it; it’s just an instinctive response. Like all of us, I just naturally think of myself first.
In a selfie, me-first world, the cultural current is so strong, so dominating, that what Paul is addressing here is often not even on the radar of believers. Our normal is to focus on us and put ourselves always at the front of the line in our daily priorities. Even many of our apparent other-centered activities such as volunteering, going on mission trips, giving financial support, can be rooted in self-centeredness. Doing such things can give us experiences to talk about and share photos on social media, make us feel good about ourselves, can look good on a resumé, or assuage guilt over not being good enough for the Lord. Even in our most other-focused moments, it is quite easy to have selfish motives.
So what are we to do to be more selfless, more other-focused, when our natures and the culture is bent far over in the opposite direction? Paul gives us a clue here—humility. He goes on to say after the above passage that our attitude should be that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to grasp, but instead humbled Himself. The only cure for selfishness is humility.
We tend to live life with an entitlement mentality—we should be able to do what is best for us because we’re the most important. To become humble is to recognize we are not the center of the universe, that everything does not revolve around us, our needs and wants. Rather, it is the Lord who, as Creator of all things, is by default the Center of all things. And Jesus serves as an example that even God was willing to humble and put others before Himself. So we are without excuse.
But we keep making them. We’re too busy, too tired, will get to it later, or we were totally unaware, as was the excuse of the goats in Matthew 25. The only way out of this is through self-reflection, humility, and repentance. Self-reflection is necessary to see the need for humility, and genuine humility leads us to change from swimming with the natural currents of our natures and our world to reversing and swimming against them.
Today, recognize that looking out for other people’s interests rather than our own is not natural and therefore will not be easy. But it is the command of the Lord and we cannot just ignore it. So reflect on your life and attitudes. Is it rife with selfishness? Then come before the Lord in humility, asking forgiveness, and for discernment and strength to live for the interests of others, particularly for those of the Lord Himself.
© Jim Musser 2017
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