On selfishness.

Just the other day I was thinking about how selfish I am.

My natural self tries to take care of ME. Even in my interactions with others sometimes I feel like I am trying to figure out how I can be the one to get ahead, how I can be the one to be talked to or noticed or made to look important. Call it vanity. Call it conceit. It’s both of those.

I know what all my tactics are, I know how I try to manipulate a situation.
But as I was thinking, feeling terrible (as I should) about how I am sometimes, I wondered, “Is this selfishness thing even necessary? Do all of my strivings get me anywhere anyway?” What a waste of time it sometimes feels like.
Needless to say, I found myself praying, confessing all of the terrible, selfish things about me, when that verse came to mind. You know, the one about thinking about others as better than yourself.
What I had never noticed, really, was the verses just before that one. It’s preface.

Philippians 2:1-4 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 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.

Talk about packing a punch. Right in the gut.

What surprised me, though, as I said, was the preface verses.
How many of you have ever had any encouragement from being united with Christ?
I have.
How many of you have ever known any comfort from his love? Any at all?
I am reminded of those times in the grey seasons of life when I would cry myself to sleep. All alone in a big house, but realizing as I drifted off that I wasn’t alone; he was there. And that was enough.
Yes, I can say I know the comfort from his love.
Fellowship with the Spirit? Don’t have to ask me twice. So much. There is so much fellowship to have with that good God of ours. He is a talker, and I am a talker, so we get along capitally. Yeah, he is my favorite fellowship. He is my favorite experience-sharer.

If any of you are like me, or even maybe if you have not felt like you know the comfort and love and fellowship to the extent I say I have, this verse says that if you have ANY. Have you ever known ANY of that?

Then you have reason to not be selfish.
Isn’t this is the craziest thing?

This verse says that if we have ever known any of these things, then we can have that same love, we can be like-minded with Christ, we can have that same spirit.

What is that spirit, though?
Well let me ask you: when you were experiencing all of that love of comfort or fellowship, was that at a time when you needed love or comfort or fellowship?
Probably.
So what in essence was Christ doing? Wasn’t he taking care of your needs?
He was. He was looking out for YOUR interests. THAT is the same mind we can have. A mind that looks out for interests.

But isn’t that what I am trying to do when I am being selfish? Am I not looking out for MY interests?

This says that he already is, though. So that means that my selfishness is a little…redundant. Because, if he is looking out for my interests, then my care about my needs is probably not necessary.

Typically when I am being selfish I have a fear that if I don’t get what I am after at this current moment then eventually I won’t have some kind of comfort. Somewhere down the road I won’t have a certain type of love or fellowship or what-have-you. This claim though, which is pretty large, says that HE gives love and comfort and fellowship, which should therefore lead me to peace. Because no matter what happens in this situation I am trying to manipulate, I will never be without those benefits of knowing Jesus.

All of this makes me realize that the devil is even more of a liar than I had originally thought: even our “need” to be selfish is a lie. He says that we need to look out for ourselves. Makes us think that nobody else will if we don't.

Not so.
You and I have no need to be selfish. We can think of others as better than ourselves; we can look to their interests; we can have the same spirit of Christ (through his power); we can stop trying to manipulate situations to get us ahead. Why? Because Christ’s love and comfort and fellowship is already looking out for our interests.

What freedom! What additional comfort! What security! We are free to now have the attitude of, “Well I can look out for you and your needs, I can give you comfort, I can look out for your interests---because I am already being taken care of.”

For the Believer then, what is selfishness? It’s overkill. Unnecessary.

There is no need for us to be so concerned about our needs because, well, he’s already got that covered.
Yay. Now we can just go love people. What a relief.