1 JOHN 2:12 – I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake
THEME OF THE DAY. SELFISHNESS AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS. It is the result of the fall in the garden of Eden. Outside of being in Christ and a new creature, we are controlled by this sinful tendency and incapable of breaking its grip on us. And the battle doesn’t go away after becoming a Christian. The difference is now in Christ, we are able to consistently defeat its powerful pull. This “it” is selfishness. Paul David Tripp defines it with great clarity, “The DNA of sin is selfishness. Sin inserts me into the middle of my universe; the one place reserved for God and God alone. Sin reduces my field of concern down to my wants, my needs, and my feelings. Sin really does make it all about me.”
The sin of selfishness shows itself in so many ways but let’s consider two. First, when we are sinned against and hurt by other people in our relationships. As these painful situations arise, selfishness is ready to run to our defense. It screams, “Not fair. I haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t deserve this treatment. I have rights.” Well, to be straight to the point because I need to be straight to the point to myself, “No, we don’t have rights. It is not upon us to defend ourselves. We are not our own. Remember what happened at salvation? We were bought by the blood of Jesus. We surrendered all rights and He took complete ownership of us. We are His servant and nothing is about the servant. It is all about the servant’s Master” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Even our salvation isn’t about us primarily. Go back to the scripture of the day and let the Apostle John remind us about this salvation truth. We are forgiven for His name’s sake.
Another area in the Christian life when the sin of selfishness raises its ugly head is when we fail to receive personal recognition for service and are taken for granted. This is broad and don’t think it isn’t real. We were wired to receive encouragement from the Lord and others. We also, because of sin, are wired to take God’s gifts of His grace and people for granted. Now the sin of selfishness may come front and center in our hearts in our ministry to God’s people. We labor and serve, but rarely do we receive words of encouragement from others. Now I am not saying serve for the praise of people, but we are commanded to give thanks for and encourage others who help us grow in grace (Philippians 1:3-5; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; Philemon; Hebrews 3:12-13). As a side note, take time and think how selfless we are in our intentional acts of encouraging other believers in the faith for their walks and examples to us. Are we consistently obeying this command to encourage and recognize others? Selfishness is also shown by our passivity to do these ministries to others.
Selfishness is also revealed in marriages when we are ignored or taken for granted. In those relationships when spouses rarely give words and tokens of appreciation, selfishness starts to brew in hearts. The selfless and sacrificing spouse may be tempted to let selfishness be expressed like this, maybe not in words, but attitude – “Hey, I give and give and yet, it doesn’t seem like there is much reciprocation or appreciation for what I do.” If tempted to go there, stop and remember, even in our marriages, it isn’t about being served, but to serve as unto the Lord and for His name’s sake.
The sin of selfishness is the mother of all sins. It is only conquered by meditating long and hard on the One who gave us the ultimate example of the opposite of selfishness – His selfless life and sacrifice.
PRAYER: “Father, please forgive me for the way too many times I make life all about me.”
QUOTE: “Everything begins and ends with the glory of God. Even our salvation is not primarily about us.”