Selfish

Confession time: I am a selfish person. Now, if you know me, depending on how well you know me, you might be saying "Well duh, I could'a told ya that!". Some that think they know me very well might be saying, "No. Now come on you're just being hard on yourself." Truth is, if you were inside my head, you'd be shaking yours. Why? Because as I said, I'm a selfish person. I asked the Lord tonight why I'm so selfish and He gave a quick and honest reply; "You need to die to self. You're saved, but you need to die to your self, daily." That means every day. That also means that there are days, seasons even when I've died to my 'self', but it does not seem to me that this is one of those seasons. Galatians puts it bluntly and beautifully:

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" (Galatians 5:16, 17, 19-23 NLT)

Wow. Convicting. Ask yourself the hard question right now (it slapped me in the face!), on the inside of you, which nature is predominant? Which one needs to be?

Lord, I choose today, right now to die to my 'self' and to live unselfishly, to live according to your Spirit. I ask that the fruit of the Spirit would grow more and more each day in my life so that it is so evident as I serve others for the sake of your kingdom. Christ Jesus I belong to you so I crucify the sinful nature in my life, and choose to live by your Spirit. Amen.