The Cure for Selfishness

 
The problem with people is that they are selfish beings. They are motivated in everything they do by their own selfishness. It is the major factor in all their relationships to other people. That is why most marriages don’t last these days — one, or both of the parties involved think more of themselves and their desires than they do of their mate’s.or their children’s needs and desires. Selfishness is the root of the sin problem, therefore the root of ALL the problems on the face of the earth. While most will attribute the cause of sin to Adam, or their mother and father, a man is made a sinner by his own selfishness. He puts his desires and well-being above the desires and well-being of others and God.

 SAVED PEOPLE ARE NOT SELFISH PEOPLE! It is no wonder that hardly any of those who make professions of faith in our day continue on in the faith and live for God. The basic problem is never dealt with. They are enticed to "make heaven their home," or to "go to heaven when they die," or to "escape the punishment of hell." They are told that Jesus will make their life worth living and be their provider and their comforter in their problems. These are purely selfish reasons to be saved, and they have no effect at all on a heart that is already selfish — except to make it even MORE selfish. These enticements may get them in the church, (probably for a short time) but they will not get them into the Kingdom of Heaven. The root of the problem must be dug out and dealt with.

 Having established that the basic problem with men is their selfishness, the next question that comes to mind is, how do we deal with selfish people? What do we use to entice them to give up their selfishness and love their neighbor as themselves? What do you use to motivate someone who operates completely in a selfish realm to leave that realm and begin to give God and others first place? There is no promise or reward that will work because those just feed that selfishness that is the problem in the first place. No threat of punishment will change a selfish heart into a benevolent heart. That might cause them to do unselfish acts out of fear, but it won’t break that selfish heart and make it anew.

The greatest influence is example. You may TELL people all day about what they should do, but until you actually DO it before them, your words will have little effect. You may train your children in right and wrong and make them live by rules ever so strict, but the way you live before them will influence them much, much more that what you TELL them. Your example is the strongest message you preach. There is only one thing that has the power to subdue the selfish heart of man, and that is the example of unselfishness displayed on the Cross of Calvary. Surely this is what Paul meant when he spoke of preaching "Christ, and him crucified." We try in vain to entice the selfish sinners of our day to get saved with promises of heaven and threats of punishment, but many times we skip, or barely mention, the only part of the Gospel that has the power to do the job. A selfish heart cannot ignore the Innocent dying in the place of the guilty — and doing it willingly. Words of forgiveness for those who are piercing his hands and his feet, as they are doing it, just doesn’t fit in the thinking of a selfish mind. When he is truly brought face to face with Christ on the Cross, and the fact that is was for HIM that He died, his selfish heart MUST be moved. If it isn’t, there is NO HOPE in the universe for that man.

 Finally, how can we expect them to believe a Gospel we preach, but don’t live? Before they will see Christ’s example they MUST see OUR example. The example Jesus set for us must be lived out in our lives before the selfish sinners we rub shoulders with in this world. Our lives must be examples of UNSELFISHNESS if we expect to see sinners broken and coming to Christ. According to Jesus, the first step in being born again is DENYING YOURSELF. After that the Christian life is a daily crucifixion. We must decrease for Him to increase. If a person will not DENY themselves, and take up the CROSS, and follow Jesus, they CANNOT be his disciple. (Luke 14:27) That is why a life of sacrifice for the cause of Christ always bears much fruit, and continues to do so for many years down the road. That example of unselfishness stops the selfish being in his tracks and he is forced to wonder how a person could be that way, and what makes him that way. Don’t be so foolish as to think that there are words, or plans, or formulas, or methods that will make the Gospel real to lost sinners. The Gospel in spoken words has no more power than any other story unless the supreme example of unselfishness is brought to bear upon the selfish heart of a sinner. When the messenger’s life is also an example of unselfishness, then the Gospel truly does have the power to transform that selfish heart into a loving, kind, thoughtful, benevolent heart that loves God and others more than itself. NOTHING ELSE WILL WORK! ‘

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