My son loves to be selfish, in fact so do I. It's not easy to admit, but I'm often just as selfish as a child. Have you been selfish lately? It's not hard to figure out, just answer a few questions.

Do you ever complain? Do you ever expect praise? Do you ever want people to know your right? Do you talk about yourself often? Are you jealous? I suppose that's enough beating ourselves up for now. It's an inevitable fact of our lives. We are selfish.

Selfishness is not part of God's plan for us to be like Christ. In fact, selfishness is sin. When we look at the example of Jesus Christ and his life we find no trace of selfish behavior. The word of God says that Jesus humbled himself even unto death for our sin.(Phil. 2:5-11)

"Do nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil. 2:3-4)

Selfishness is a terribly hard thing to combat. It's like a fungus fed by our sinful nature. First we must admit that our selfish attitudes and behaviors are not right, they are sin. Then we must began to treat the fungus. Here are a few ways to treat your selfishness.

1 - Pray and humbly ask God for forgiveness from your sin.

2 - Open your eyes to a world full of needs and causes bigger than yourself. I think each one of us truly wants to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Find a friend or neighbor who needs help or an organization that needs volunteers.

3 - Make it a daily practice to say no to yourself so you can say yes to others. Chose to sacrifice and let go of your desires and agenda so that you are freed up to serve and love others.

4 - Live by Grace. Even in our practical steps of fighting our selfishness we must fully depend on the grace of God. It is only the grace of God that can reform our selfish heart.

When we look deep into what God has done for us by his grace we began to see things in a new perspective. All the things we wanted badly, argued for, and complained about, fall short of true eternal purpose. When we embrace what God has done for us through Christ we become fueled to love others around us unselfishly.

Be active, be intentional, and look out for others needs first.

-Josh