We live in a selfish culture. Sometimes we don’t recognize our selfishness, especially when we’re striving for the best of whatever. While it’s not necessarily bad to want the best things of life, what we do to get the best or what we do when we don’t get the best illuminates our selfish motives.
Many times our selfishness hurts other people. The workaholic striving to get the best for his family usually ends up hurting the family in the process. Parents who jockey their kids around so they can get the best teacher or the best class or the best team usually end up hurting either those who have to settle for “second best” or their own kids who grow up thinking they can have whatever they want.
Sadly, we do it within the church, as well. Our selfishness leads us to expect things to be done our way, especially when it comes to the way worship services are planned and the way money is spent. And when things aren’t done the way we like it, we withhold our support, whether in time, money, or effort.
Selfishness has no place in the church. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3, 4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Some might consider those verses and think, “If we’re all supposed to think of the interests of others, then someday I should be entitled to have what I want.” It just doesn’t work that way. In Ephesians 5:21 Paul wrote: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The simple selflessness that we must have comes not from the hope that eventually we might get what we want but from our reverence for Jesus. Let’s focus on trying to serve others not just because we ought to but because we love Jesus who gave himself selflessly for us.