Selfishness The only thing necessary to change heaven into hell -- if God were to allow it -- is selfishness.
Selfishness is mankind's fundamental defect. Selfish means: self-centered, self-serving, self-important.
At the root of every problem is selfishness.
JAMES 3:16 TEV
16 Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil.Every selfish person is potentially your enemy.
Giving is the opposite of acting selfishly. Divine love is the opposite of selfishness.
No other "religion" teaches to put others first, to love your enemies. Christianity is the only one that teaches you can be totally changed and become a person with a new nature.
We are products of a corrupt culture that teaches selfishness. All sin is selfish. No one ever sins for someone else -- we do it for selfish reasons.
We must die to selfishness -- or self-destruct. However, we are unable to do it by ourselves. We must allow Jesus Christ to change us inwardly.
You can't change the fruit without changing the root. That is why you must be born again! Only by receiving Jesus Christ, and letting Him change you, can you be a truly unselfish person.
Pride Pride is self-importance and self-focus -- which leads to selfishness which is selfish thinking and selfish acting -- which is the opposite of Jesus' command of agape love (John 13:34).
Pride and selfishness always go together. A truly humble person cannot be selfish at the same time.
Pride is the root of selfishness -- and thus the root of all evil. Pride is hidden but manifests as selfish acts. Selfishness is the cause of all evil. All evil proceeds from selfish actions. Selfishness is the only manifest problem, but pride feeds it. Dealing with the root cause of the problem is the only lasting solution.
Pride produces selfishness. All selfishness is pride.
Doing things yourself, on your own, is a part of selfishness. Prayer is the opposite of doing things yourself. We must desire God's: will, done in God's time, and done God's way.
Selfish Ambition GALATIANS 5:19-21 NKJ
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.PHILIPPIANS 2:3-4 NKJ
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.It takes faith to put others first. It takes faith to receive, but it takes even more faith to forsake -- because it does not seem to be in our self-interest. (Hebrews 11:27)
Deny Yourself LUKE 9:23-25 NKJ
23 Then He said to them all, `If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 `For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 `For what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?The Bible instructs us to deny ourself -- not condemn ourself. Our choices must be based on doing God's will -- not just in pleasing ourselves. God is not against pleasure -- He invented it! But it should be your slave -- not your master.
COLOSSIANS 3:3 NKJ
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-15 NKJ
14 For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.Put Others First 1 JOHN 3:11-18 NKJ
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.ROMANS 12:10 NKJ
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;1 CORINTHIANS 9:19 NKJ
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;1 CORINTHIANS 10:24,33 NKJ
24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being.
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.PHILIPPIANS 2:3-8 NKJ
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.ROMANS 15:1-3 NKJ
1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me."Selfishness Is Opposite Love JOHN 15:12-13 NKJ
12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.GALATIANS 5:14 NKJ
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7 NKJ
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Go to BELIEVE! Papers List
Go to Believers Home Page