Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Selfishness (05/14/26)
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TITLE: The One In The Mirror | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
05/18/26 -
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Since the Fall of Man, we come into this world with a self-centered nature. We learn in infancy how to let those around us know when we are not happy campers, and how to manipulate them to do something about it.
We do not “naturally” put the concerns, desires, or needs that others have, ahead of our own.
Even when fallen Man pleases others, it is often done in order to get something out of it that benefits oneself.
The fallen nature, with its inherent selfishness, does a good job of concealing its hidden agenda, that is, until one realizes that whatever it was, that he or she wanted to get out of the situation is not going to happen, or continue to happen.
Selfish people can turn sour or bitter faster than milk on a hot summer’s day.
Fallen Man sees himself as being at the center of the universe, with everyone and everything being there for his own benefit.
But Man was created to “be there” to execute the plans of God, and not the other way around.
Many Christians pray for THY will to be done, but what they really mean is for MY will to be done with His support, evidenced by their negative reactions when things don’t go their way.
Man, with the fallen nature at the helm, is not merely indifferent, but is actually hostile (1) towards anyone or anything, that seeks to control or restrict him, or that gets in his way of what he wants to gain or retain.
Sad to say, but for Fallen Man, to his own hurt, this “anyone” and “anything” includes God and the things of God.
Fallen Man has mastered the art of justifying all that he does, or declines to do, in order to promote his own agenda.
The selfish nature increases its pressure to have its own way, competing with the new, Christ-centered nature, that one receives on the day he or she is born-again (2).
The self-centered, fallen nature does NOT go away when one is born again. Paul spoke of this ongoing struggle almost 30 years after he was born again, and towards the end of his earthly ministry (3).
Rather or not we cave in and continue to satisfy the desires of the self-centered fallen nature that remains within us, or we submit to the leading of the new, Christ-centered nature, is a daily and ongoing series of choices we make.
The Army of God is an all-volunteer outfit. The command center of our lives is not a two-seater. If God is not the one seated there, then someone, or something else is.
The new, Christ-centered creation within us generates an ever-increasing desire to grow in the knowledge (4) and in the application (5) of the Word of God in order to glorify God.
The self-centered, fallen nature will only be interested in doing so, to the extent it might benefit oneself.
The willingness to submit, and to sacrifice oneself, are not characteristics to be found in the heart of a selfish individual.
Remember that we, and the people around us, are by nature, self-centered (selfish) individuals, and we shouldn’t be surprised when we, and they, act accordingly, from time to time.
With the enabling power of God, one can choose to become more and more Christ-centered, and less and less self-centered, as we become more and more conformed to the unselfish likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ (6).
As one spiritually matures, his interest in, and desires for, what the world has to offer, and the world’s interest in him, diminishes.
For an advancing disciple, the only thing that matters, is that he is where God wants him to be, and doing what God wants him to be doing 24/7, until the Lord calls him home.
Being Christ-centered is a daily choice we make, evidenced by extent that one is willing to sacrifice one’s own plans in order to execute His. Being a part of what He plans for others is a part of His plan for ourselves.
We can choose to live for God (7), or we can choose to live for yourself (8), reaping the blessings or the consequences, in either time or eternity, for the daily choices, we make.
(1) Rom. 8: 7 (2) 2Cor. 5: 17 (3) Rom. 7: 14ff (4) 2Pet. 3: 18 (5) James 1: 22 (6) Rom. 8: 29 (7) Phil. 1:21 (8) Josh.24: 15
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