THE SCARS OF SELFISHNESS

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or 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.

 

     Selfishness is not on the list of the Seven Deadly Sins, but I certainly believe that if the list were expanded to ten it would easily make it. For selfishness is mental, emotional and spiritual suicide. It builds a castle, and then places itself on the throne instead of God. Selfishness is a jackass who wants his or her own private stable from which to issue decrees. It is like a caterpillar who sells its privilege of becoming a butterfly for an extra mouthful of leaves. And selfishness is truly the doorkeeper to the gates of hell.

     Remember the words in the hymn Amazing Grace… “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see…” Well, no the selfish man or woman, if they are honest with themselves, could say that. Not even if they squinted would they be able to see because they have missed the Lord’s message and their myopic view of life has thoroughly done them in.

     At the opposite end of human behavior is a lady whose story I’m pleased to tell. It is a tale of those who attend the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg because of the generosity of this woman who is still simply referred to as Miss Ola. This loving, unselfish African-American took in laundry for 75 years. She never had a golden parachute to ease her financial journey through life. She never made an income anywhere near five figures. For a great deal of her life, an income of four figures was well beyond her reach. But Miss Ola daily read her tattered Bible held together with scotch tape so that her favorite chapter, the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, wouldn’t come falling out. She read it and she believed it and she practiced it - this message of love from the Apostle Paul.

     And oh, how this unselfish woman loved; not in a philosophical way, sit on the front porch talk about it way, but in a down-to-earth give-it-life kind of way. And so it was that in 1995, she was able to express her love for her fellow human beings in an unbelievable expression of concern. She gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi, an historical black college.

     When asked how she could save so much when she had earned so little, her answer was simple and to the point, “It wasn’t hard. I just didn’t buy things I didn’t need. And I did it so others could gain the education I never had the chance to get.” One year and a half later after giving this unselfish gift, she died at the age of 91.

 

“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others.” (Philippians 2:4) Just a reminder of how the morning’s scripture read.

TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)


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