Monday, June 11, 2012

Caution: Selfishness.

"As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind,
so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision..."
-Hellen Keller

Selfishness.  You know it's dangerous, right?

When we forget whom we serve, we quickly fall prey to base - and sinful - human instincts.  Even seasoned leaders are not exempt to acting out of motives that are self serving and manipulative.

Yup - that means you and me...  It is a caution flag worth waving...

If we forget to humble ourselves, we will eventually act selfishly.  And selfishness is incredibly destructive.  If we forget that we are called to serve God - and to serve those He has called - we can eventually bring pain and grief to those working along side of us in the Kingdom.

The opposite is - fortunately - also true.  As we actively seek to replace selfish behavior with actions motivated by UN-selfish humility, love and sacrifice - something just as powerful begins to happen:  We become more aligned with the true character and behavior of Christ.  We will see things around us being built up and strengthened - not weakened and torn down.

Paul puts it all together in a few, very efficient words:  "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3





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