St. Patrick's Day and Selfishness

Well, top of the mornin' to ya! It's St. Patrick's Day! I love St. Patrick's Day! I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!!!

My St. Patrick's Day started off with some reading. While reading, I was reminded of Philippians 2:3-4. These are some verses that I wish we could just choose to ignore. Wouldn't that be nice? If we could just choose which parts of the Bible to follow, life as a Christian would be much easier! I mean, I could get rid of all the things that talk about language...taming the tongue and all. That would make things easier. And, I could get rid of verses like Philippians 2:3-4...then I could be as selfish as I want to be and not worry about it.

But, the truth is, we can't just pick and choose which parts of the Bible we think we should apply to our lives. We need the whole picture! I know that it seems like the modern church really only focuses on parts of the Bible at times, but as followers of Christ, we need to reclaim the authority of Scripture (okay, I'm starting to get on my soapbox...so, I better stop with that stuff here and just get on with Philippians 2:3-4).

Philippians 2:3-4 says, "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."

No thank you! I mean, that's sort of my honest answer. On the surface, I give the, "yes, this is good...I need to stop being selfish...I need to consider others better than myself...I need to look to the interests of others." But, in reality I'm thinking, "Man, each person for himself. I'll take care of myself...you take care of yourself. I'll take care of my interests...Me, ME, MMMMMEEEEEEEE!!!"

Then, as I prayerfully consider this passage, I am convicted about my selfish nature. Honestly, we live in a selfish society...many people have the "I'm looking out for number one" attitude...we focus on what we can get for ourselves rather than what we can give to others...I'm guilty of this. When I have free time, I'm not looking for ways to serve others...I'm looking for ways to enjoy my time doing something for myself.

As I read Philippians 2:3-4, I have this feeling on my heart that I need to change. I need to put myself aside and look to how I can "consider others better than" myself...and ways I can show it. I can sit here all day and talk about how I consider others better than myself...but if I'm not doing anything about it do I really consider others better than myself???

Anyway...just some rambling thoughts...I hope that I can be less selfish today and the days to come.