Saying "no" to selfishness

~Friday for Friends~

Being selfish is easy. All we have to do is think about ourselves a bit more than we already do, remember all the good things we ever did, and decide that we certainly deserve whatever it is we want. The problem? We shouldn't be selfish.

The Bible tells to not be selfish, but to place others before ourselves.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:10(NIV)

"For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." James 3:16 (NIV)

"No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." 1 Corinthians 10:24 (NIV)


The best example of selflessness is Jesus.

"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
  Who, being in very nature[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
  rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
  And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)

Let's pray and ask God to help us become less selfish and more selfless!