So ~ you and I, we don’t need to live one more day entrapped in our selfish ambition! Ok, so it’s one of those ‘things’ of which we dare not speak. Who among us like to talk about it ~ and the thought that we might be one of those selfish creatures just doesn’t sit well with anyone! Oh yeah, we see it in others but in ourselves? Yeah, sadly, it’s just as real in our lives as it’s real in those close to us. Why do we see it so easily in others and look inwardly through a blind eye? It’s the nature of the beast and we just do!
You and I and we and us ~ well, we have a way of twisting the truth about it don’t we? Yeah, first of all we don’t call it that, rather it’s our right to express it, or to go after it or fight for whatever it is we want to get at all cost. Or we just deserve that break today don’t we? ~ and sometimes yes we do! Oh yeah, Sometimes we really do need a break without being driven by guilt, but to trample on toes to get everything we think we deserve ~ well let’s just call it what it is ~ boring, cruel selfish ambition!! Ouch!
But beautiful soul, It’s just there ~ in us, and so often doesn’t it raise it’s ugly head and bluntly and blatently shout out it’s obnoxious presence? Selfish living deceives us into truly believing that having it our way is freedom. Freedom to be who we are but truly it’s entrapment places us in bondage to who we are; nothing but poor sinful, creatures obsessed with ourselves and our stuff and yeah we’re spiralling quickly to self destruction. How much more entrapped can we be, when we continually want what we want without contentment? Thankfully God has made a way for us to escape the greed and the icy fingers of want wrapped in ingratitude and thanklessness. Paul reminds the Galatians and us as believers, in Galatians 5:1, that Christ has set them (us) free through faith in Himself, from their sin and so they were free indeed; no longer in slavery to rules and laws and performance. Further, In Galatians 5: 13, Paul goes on to say, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, (selfishness) but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Our wonderful freedom in Christ, through our faith in Him and through His grace, is not a licence to sin but to serve God and others. It’s our escape, preventative and our only absolute solution to self destruction associated with selfish desires and sinful living. Serving God and ‘Self’ can’t happen.The two can’t coincide. So, with all the honesty you and me can muster deep within ourselves, let’s ask point blank, “Who is being served today?” God desires your beautiful soul to serve Him alone and find how sweet it is to leave ‘self’ on the shelf.
Galatians 5: 24
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus, have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Sprit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”
2 Timothy 3: 1-5
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 