Blinded, Part III

As we talked about in the last post (Blinded, Part II), selfishness without self-control is evil. Selfishness is necessary for our survival and the urges that we get (such as hunger) are there for our good. God designed us to be selfish to a certain extent for the furtherance of our species. It is when selfish desire becomes something other than what God intended that it becomes dangerous.

At some point selfishness and our constant desire for more of what we do not have hurts others or is against others. We should be content with the basic necessities of life and Paul mentions this in his writings. To overindulge beyond this ideal is dangerous and eventually spawns emotions like jealousy, hate, malice, pride, arrogance, survival of the fittest, independence, and at the worst point can even lead people to have thoughts of murder.

When you see the news these days, do you ever wonder how someone in the news could have killed their children or their wife or their co-workers? You do not really want to know the answer to that question because many of them (except in some extreme cases) were once just like you and me. Murder started with a small chain of events. An selfish motive. It may have (and often does) started out very innocent and seemingly harmless but what it becomes is evil at his climax. This is why Paul begs us to stay rooted and grounded in love because love is patient, kind, and compassionate.

Philippians 2:1-4

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.