Articles
Coping with Life – Selfishness
Coping with Life – Selfishness
Mike Willis
I can’t think of a better way to open this article than to remind our readers of one of Frank Sinatra’s most popular songs: “My Way.” The song celebrates a life of living as one pleases, regardless of how it affects others. The song has become a cultural phenomena and was named the most-played song at funerals in a poll of funeral directors. The song has become a blueprint for the “me” generations, those who “do it your way and don’t let anybody else tell you how to live.” It is a song of defiance and self-centeredness.
The song celebrates “me, me, me!” When one becomes the center of his own world, it becomes all about him. His god is himself and he is occupied with worshiping self—what makes “me” happy is right and what makes me unhappy is “sin.” Others are useful only if they contribute to one’s own happiness and joy; when they can no longer serve my personal wants, they are discarded and forgotten. They are no longer useful.
On March 19, 2024, Fox News reported the story of Kristel Candelario’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole because she left her 16 month-old daughter alone for ten days in a playpen while she was vacationing in Detroit and Puerto Rico. The child starved to death in her Pack-N-Play. What narcissistic, selfish behavior!
Selfish behavior is contrary to the spirit of Christ. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than receive” (Acts 20:35). Paul wrote, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5). In his description of love, Paul said, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. IT DOES NOT INSIST ON ITS OWN WAY; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13:4-5).
Jesus taught that the way to personal fulfillment is through service to others. On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He first gathered with His disciples in an upper room. He knew that they had wrangled that day about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. So Jesus “rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:4-5).
He took the occasion to teach His disciples. Jesus said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:12-17). This is the same teacher who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Frank Sinatra may be popular to a narcissistic culture, but soon memory of the “Ol’ Blue Eyes” will fade in human memory and men will have learned through the painful consequences of a self-centered life that it promises a happiness and satisfaction that it does not deliver. But the selfless life of Christ will continue to call men and women to a higher calling of serving the needs of others.
