Me-Firstology
A striking young successful man expressed a selfish idea to his mother which was his nature. His mom quoted from “It’s Not About Me,” by Max Lucado, the popular line saying, “Remember, it’s not about me.”
Sarcastically he replied, “But it is about me.” That framed his life. He meant it and he lived it.
He became exhibit A of a me-ite personality. His wife divorced him. His daughters renounced his faux faith, dropped out of school and became social outcasts. He became a loner whose friends were so few they could not play a game of solitaire.
It is about me is another way of saying what a person of such a mentality would never admit: “I am a selfish narcissist.” It is another way of saying my world circles around me and it is a small orb. At the core of such a life is sin. You cannot be the Christian you were saved to be if you are selfish. Jesus said it plainly, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16: 24)
Selfish people are unable to love others.
Selfishness can be defined as the trait that leads people to frequently act in their own interest without any regard for how their actions could impact others.
Some people act selfishly on occasion. Some are at their core selfish.
In Greek mythology there lived a beautiful young nymph. One day he observed his beauty reflected in a pool and became so enraptured he fell in and drowned.
His name was Narcissus’. Such inordinate self-love bears his name. Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe such people as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronizing, and demanding.
The issue of living a “selfie” life is addressed in Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
This point is driven home in Hebrews 10:24-25 — “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”
Lest the point not be understood, Scripture repeats the concept. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2: 3,4)