Help, I'm sinking here!

Selfishness and pride get in the way in our lives way more than we might like to freely admit to each other, but if we are to grow in Christ we do need to acknowledge this fact! The moment we begin to realize there is something at work within us that is in direct opposition to the work of Christ in our lives is the moment we can begin to choose to live differently. It only takes a moment to change a life course, while it takes a lifetime to live it out. Don't believe me? Look upon the parent who lost their child to drugs and tell me it didn't take a moment to change that parent's entire life course, or the single parent left alone to raise her children simply because there was someone more 'appealing' to her husband. A choice made in a moment - a lifetime to live it out. The moment we make a choice is as significant as each step we take beyond those choices, especially when it comes to growing in the grace and love of Christ.

Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first. In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. (Philippians 2:3-5)

Selfishness and prideful agendas have a way of taking over our lives and even the lives of others we associate with. When we find ourselves 'inward focused', we overlook the impact of our choices on others. We don't even consider the impact those choices will have upon our own lives, either. Why? I think it is probably because our 'inward focus' keeps us from seeing beyond the immediate. Pride has a way of highlighting the immediate and keeping our attention away from the bigger picture. Think for a moment about the last time you 'covered up' a mistake you made in life simply because you were too ashamed to admit it to anyone. What kept you from admitting the mistake? Some of us may say it was fear because we worried that the others in our lives wouldn't accept us or love us any longer if we admitted to the mistake. Others may say it was the sense that nobody really cares about them anyway, so why would they trust another with their short-comings? 

Pride keeps us from admitting where it is we need the help in our lives the most. We don't want to admit it to Christ, but how silly is that since he already knows? I have been asked why we need to tell him we need his help in that area where we struggle if he already knows. I imagine it might be that there is something powerful in admitting that area of need in our lives that is released in us - by acknowledging the need there is this change in our attitude that occurs. Our attitude begins to become one of trusting him for his help instead of us attempting to 'soldier on' in our own futile self-efforts. If we don't want to admit our need to Christ, we certainly don't want others to know about it, so do you begin to see how this simply choice to hold it all in begins to affect our lives? In time, the single choice to hold it in and deal with it ourselves excludes us from the very thing we need to actually break free of it!

Pride keeps us focused on our 'self interest' - we try to preserve self at the expense of overcoming the very thing that is causing us to sink in the first place! Just sayin!