What is wrong with the current obsession with self and making self number 1?
What is wrong with “me, me, me” and the cult of “I”?
Isn’t that the way to get ahead and make me a mark on the world and like yourself while you’re doing it?
Isn’t that the road to rainbow’s end to happiness too?
This generation is obsessed with turning inward, with searching elusive self that will turn the dullest of us into instant achievers and social superstars. It is obsessed with self-love, self-realization, self-glorification, and the worship of self by whatever name we call it wants to talk about me, look at me, analyze me, and let me do as I please.
A well-known author Jeff Calkins writes about the current crop of “get-ahead-by-intimidating-thy-neighbor self-help books.” These books he says “are monuments to the sovereign, unfettered self: a self which will brook no repression. This will not subordinate itself to anyone or anything, a self which will be its own ultimate ruler, which would, if it had the power, ascend into the heaven to displace God His throne, for it alone will be Number One.”
But all is hardly a new religion. It is older than this planet. For one called “Lucifer” now known as the devil or Satan and he had exactly the same philosophy. It was he who founded the cult “I”. It was he!
Isaiah 14:13
You said to yourself: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the [gods'] assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.(HCSB)
It was also he who, back in the Garden of Eden, told the mother of our race that the reward of rebellion would be to become a sort of God. He said, “Genesis 3:4
"No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman. Genesis 3:5
"In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."(HCSB)
Would it not be wise to check out this philosophy of self-help, of self-dependence, of going it alone, with the philosophy of Jesus, which we can freely read in the Word of God commonly known as the Bible.
But did not Jesus tell us to love ourselves?
Matthew 19:19
honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.(HCSB)
looking closely to these words, we see that Jesus is not telling us to love ourselves. He is not saying, love your neighbor and love yourself. He is saying , love your neighbor as yourself- as you already love yourself. Jesus knew too well that humanity’s problem is not lack of self-love. Most of us have far too much of it. He knew how easily the cells of self-love can turn cancerous, and how quickly the affliction can be fatal. The gospel he preached was a gospel of love. But selfishness, self-love, is the opposite of love. It is the love in reverse. Would Jesus be advocating self-love when He was painfully aware that the contagion of pride, of self-love, of selfishness, is responsible for all the troubles of this planet- the war, crime, suffering, and all the rest? Hardly!
Some people would ask “why am I here in this world?” well, Jesus says that we should surrender our lives to Him who loved us and because of this unconditional love he died for us not because we were worthy but in spite of our unworthiness. And He has great plans for transforming us, if we let Him, into far more representative members of his creation! But the thing is to surrender is not easy admitting our need is not easy for a proud heart. The daily choices and decisions of the Christian life may not be easy. They may be real battle. But if we let Him in, He will surely work miracles of transformation we never dreamed possible! it is Christ doing for you what you can’t possibly do for yourself. It is Christ giving you victories you could never own by your own. It is Christ about a continuing transformation that self-discipline could never accomplish. And listen. It means happiness that there are no words to describe. The true meaning of JOY was to prioritize “Jesus, Others, and Yourself” respectively!
