Love is NOT Selfish

oOo. Now, NO ONE likes this subject. Why? Because we all have this problem.

No. Shut up. You do. I'm not going on until you admit it.

selfish: characterized by manifesting concern or care only for oneself.

Yeah. I know. I'm mean because I just called you "selfish"...but so am I, so deal with it. Now that ALL of our selfishness is out there for the world to see...Let's look at someone else's...wait. What was that? You wanted to talk about YOUR selfishness(whoa....you're selfish...)?? That's what I thought.

How about the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus((Luke 16:19-31))? Now, the rich man "faired sumptuously" and "dressed in purple and fine linens"...This is Bible times. When you "faired sumptuously" in Bible times, think Ritz Carlton. Think "W" Hotels of New York. Then you see the other side of the scope: (v20-21)Lazarus. He was "covered in sores" and the dogs came and licked them. (Uh, gross.) The Rich Man wouldn't even give Lazarus his table scraps. Eventually, they both died. Lazarus went to Heaven and the Rich Man went to Hell((Note: this had nothing to do with social status. It had to do with their spiritual states)). The Rich Man wanted Lazarus to dip the TIP of his finger in water to cool his tongue. But there is a great chasm fixed between Heaven and Hell, and people cannot pass. I have no doubt that if he could've, Lazarus would've dipped his finger in water for him...Oh, how the tables have turned, right?

What about Abraham and Lot((Genesis 13:7-12))? There was a fight between their servants, so they went their separate ways. Abraham gave Lot the choice of the land, even though Abraham was older. Lot chose the plain of the Jordan, and where did he end up? In Sodom. What happened to Sodom? ((Genesis 19:24)) Yeah. That's not cool. He wanted the best land, and ended up in a city full of sinners ((Genesis 13:13)), and his brother convinced God to spare their lives.

Why is being self-seeking a bad thing? Exactly how it sounds. You're seeking yourself. Meaning(follow my train of thought, for goodness' sake!!), you're NOT seeking God. Remember the lesson on pride?? When you're so focused on YOURSELF in a situation, then you can't see what God is doing through you. Cuz, guess what, kid. God does NOT need you(remember the rocks?). The thing is He WANTS to use you. It's an HONOR to be used by God. Another thing that Rev. Eppling said that stood out to me was that you have to be clean spiritually to be used by God. It's like a surgeon before he performs an operation. Why does he wash his hands? Because if he doesn't, he would be doing more harm than good. (See? Sermons are applicable!!!)

Psssssst. This doesn't mean it's wrong to want nice things, have nice things, or wanting to look nice. It just means that when that stuff starts becoming more important than God...you're being selfish. There's a point in your life when you have to stop staring in the mirror and asking "Who's the fairest of them all?" and start caring about other people.

If any of you went on the '07 8th Grade Missions Trip to ATL(Group 3 ruled, by the way)...I guarantee that anyone who was even REMOTELY selfish at the beginning of that trip learned otherwise by the end of the week. I can tell you this: those guys are THE sweetest guys you will meet in your entire life. Every morning they got up at LEAST an hour earlier to pack up everyone's luggage. We were staying at the YMCA, and had to be packed and out of the children's rooms by 7:30am, if I remember correctly. That means, they were getting up around 5:30am, and packing a closet with 100ish suitcases. Every day. For 6 days. In turn, we'd try and get packed as fast as we could so they could eat breakfast. Some of us even SERVED breakfast. What would've happened if the guys had decided not to obey orders? Well, the girls would all think they were selfish jerks. What would've happened if the girls had refused to clean,serve, or set up breakfast? The guys probably would've thought that we were being selfish airheads. It was a two-way street. We didn't EXPECT them to put our luggage away. They didn't EXPECT us to serve them breakfast. They put our needs above their own, and we did the same.

Here's the thing: If you're not willing to sacrifice for other people, don't expect other people to sacrifice for you.