146: Mortify Selfishness

What You'll Discover in this Episode:

146: Mortify Selfishness

In this episode, Pastor Jeff Christianson shares his thoughts about excerpts from the book: Selfishness from Loving Yourself to Loving Your Neighbor by Dr. Lou Priolo. 

What is selfishness and why is it important for us to demolish it? Why do we need to understand the gravity of its effects on us as Christians, as neighbors, as biblical counselors? What can we do to reverse this? 

There are few people more full of love than someone who is completely selfish. The problem is, all of this love is directed inward, and none of it reaches out! According to Lou Priolo’s assertion, selfishness is "the mother of all sins." When you love yourself more than others and more than God, nothing that will help you get ahead is off-limits: lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating...

We hope that by the end of this episode, you take these three things into consideration and practice them: 

1. Make it a goal to be a giver rather than a taker.
2. Follow the counsel of Christ to the church at Ephesus. 
3. Identify people where your selfishness has been obnoxious and turn it around with genuine love. 

Make it a goal to be a giver rather than a taker. Acts 30:25

What do you have that you can give, that you’ve been selfishly keeping to yourself? Counsel yourself and walk in these things before you can have the conviction to share with others. Take 5 minutes of your day and prayerfully consider how you can give to those whom God has put in your path. The Holy Spirit will show you the way. 

Follow the counsel of Christ to the church at Ephesus. Revelation 2:1-5

Remember. Repent. Repeat. Christ counseled how to recover the lost love or develop a love you never had. 

• “Remember the way things were when you were in love.” Apply this to the people you love - your friends, your family, and anybody else that you love. 
• Change your mind and direction. 
• Stop being self-centered. 1 Corinthians 13. 
• Do something by repeating what you did when you were first in love. 
• Prayerfully consider how to apply Christ’s counsel to those you failed to love. 

Identify people where your selfishness has been obnoxious and demonstrate genuine love.

In Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus stopped and said, “...if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” If you have selfishly taken, that might be the person you need to go and do this. 1 Corinthians 13 is our guide to serve and love others. 

Who has been hurt by your selfishness and actions and attitudes?

Here are a few things that you can do to start mortifying selfishness: 

• List your personal resources. 
• List the names of people you need to love. 
• List the needs of these people. 
• Then, list down how you can use the resources God has given you to meet the needs of those on your target list. 

“Selfishness is the hardest thing in the world to overcome.” Richard Baxter

Selfishness is strong in many sincere followers of Christ that the greatest dishonor to the church of Christ is evident. It has tempted many to infidelity and doubt. Baxter is saying that selfishness is a universally stubborn sin. It is totally impossible to overcome apart from the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. 

As we cooperate with the Holy Spirit of God and renounce this “mother of all sins”, there’s more to personal spiritual growth and reputation. People are evaluating, not just yourself but you as a representative of Christ. 

Self-esteem has crept into Christian counseling. This is why we want to get our people walking and renouncing their independent self-life. 

Listen to the full episode and realize not only how to demolish selfishness and learn how to replace it with a new, biblical foundation of selfless, godly love—turning your love inside out.