Lie #7: It’s All About You
Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Selfishness is a big thing these days. I mean it’s always been a thing – there’s nothing new under the sun. But I think it’s reaching a crescendo in this day and age. Probably, I guess, because the more affluent we become, the more everything in the world is at our fingertips, well … the more self-centred, the more selfish we become.
And let’s face it, technology being what it is these days, there’s pretty much nothing that you can’t access in the palm of your hand. So, one of the lies the world loves to tell us – the advertisers in particular – is that it’s all about you. In fact, I remember an ad recently for business class on a certain airline – the catch phrase of the ad was exactly that – it’s all about you. Others that you may have heard, are: Because you deserve it … because you’ve earned it … reward yourself. And on it goes.
Well, is it all about us? Do we deserve it? Have we earned it? Should we be rewarded? Well?
There are over seven billion people living on planet earth today. It’s a planet of finite space, finite food and finite resources. It’s a planet, it’s a space, it’s a food bowl, it’s a bunch of resources, that we have to share. And let’s face it, as you look back through history, indeed as we look around the world today, it’s pretty clear that we’re not all that good at sharing. Not so much! So you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out, that the whole “it’s all about me” thing is just a tad problematic.
It’s all about me – is why those in the wealthy west cocoon themselves in luxury, while billions starve. It’s all about me – is why at any point in time there are between forty and fifty wars being fought out on planet earth. It’s all about me, when you stand back from it and look at it objectively, dispassionately, well, it just doesn’t work. In fact, if you were going to be absolutely honest, you’d have to come to the conclusion that it’s been an unmitigated disaster!
Can I tell you, the most startling, the most stunning revelation that I had, after I gave my life to Jesus over twenty years ago now, is that the single most satisfying thing that I can do in life, is to forget about me, and start thinking … about you.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)
As counterintuitive as that is, as much as it flies in the face of the world’s so-called wisdom, it actually works.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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