Finding the Secret to Your Best Life
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that people can’t be both selfish and happy. I know this through my own experience, but more importantly, the Bible tells us about the attitude we should have about “self.”
Love is not selfish. In the Amplified Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:5 says love “is not self-seeking.” In 1 Corinthians 15:31, the apostle Paul said, “I die daily [I face death and die to self],” which means he was not self-seeking but instead focused on doing what God called him to do with his life.
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There are also Scriptures that teach us the importance of having self-control. Galatians 5:23 lists self-control as a fruit of the Spirit, and 2 Timothy 1:7 says that when we are in Christ, we have a spirit “of power and of love and … personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].”
If you’ve lived long enough, you realize that not being selfish requires self-control, because we’re all born with a selfish human nature. Think about how babies act: They are only concerned with what they need and often cry when they don’t get their way.
Thankfully, when we experience new life in Christ, we die to sin (Rom. 6:11). But although we die to sin, sin itself does not die. That’s why we have to make the decision over and over to choose to do the right thing on purpose. And we have what it takes, in Christ, to do what’s right—whether we feel like it or not.
As Christians, we are meant to be molded into the image of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). Jesus is the greatest example of how to love others and not live a selfish life. First John 3:16 (NIV) says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
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