Selfishness lies at the heart of most of our sins — if not all of them. It’s a major part of our human nature to be selfish; just watch toddlers fighting over a toy, and you’ll see that we don’t need instruction on how to be selfish.
Charles Spurgeon said that “Selfishness is as foreign to Christianity as darkness to light.” We have plenty of admonishments against selfishness in scripture as well:
The psalmist asked the Lord in Psalm 119:36, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” The author of Proverbs reminds us, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18:1, ESV).
The Apostle Paul reminded the Roman church that “for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8, ESV). Jesus’ brother James told his readers, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16, ESV).
The Apostle John pointed out that selfishness will show up in the way that we treat people when he wrote, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17, ESV)
So how do we get rid of selfishness in our lives? One thing’s for sure: it ain’t easy.
“Selfishness is a many-headed monster. It is, in a sense, the most destructive disease of the human soul, said John Piper in a recent episode of his “Ask Pastor John” podcast. “Absolutely nobody on this planet except for Jesus escapes the disease of selfishness. The heads of this monster are infinitely diverse — and I know that the word infinitely is an overstatement. I know that. But the point is the variety of manifestations of selfishness are endless in this life. You cut off one head and another grows up.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Past, Present, and Future in the Sermon on the Mount
Piper shared some strategies for rooting out selfishness in our lives, suggesting that we treat our selfishness like a monster.
"Stare it down, own it, be brokenhearted by it. Hate it. Declare war on it. Kill it," he said. "That’s what Paul meant in Colossians 3:5 when he said, 'Put to death therefore what is earthly in you' — and one of the things he mentions is 'evil desire,” like selfishness.'"
Piper also noted that “the strategy for overcoming selfishness is Hebrews 3:1, ‘Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.’ Or Hebrews 12:3, ‘Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself.’ This is the work of a lifetime, not the work of a moment — every day, focusing our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on Christ and the kind of person he is and the greatness of the work that he has done.”
He also pointed out that a proper view of ourselves is important as well.
“Since Jesus said to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, it’s clear that Jesus acknowledges there is a proper self-love. This is not self-esteem,” he said. “This is doing what will bring infinite and eternal joy to your own soul. That’s self-love — doing what will bring infinite and eternal joy to your own soul. And that’s what Jesus offers us.”
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. He later added, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
And Paul held up Jesus as the perfect example of how we can live selflessly:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV)
I pray that we can all follow Jesus' example to rid our lives of selfishness.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member