In a world obsessed with “more,” we are starving for what truly matters.
Endless consumption and self-promotion define our culture, growing more with social media and the influencer type culture. A few years ago, in 2017, a British First Choice study, young people were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Over 70% answered with some type of fame and popularity online.
Our society constantly tells us happiness is found in having more—money, possessions, recognition, or all three. However, beneath the surface of a “me-centered” culture lies a spiritual longing for the things of this world can’t touch or satisfy. In the Gospel Coalition podcast, the hosts discuss how materialism and self-centeredness isn’t a cultural issue but a human one, revealing a deeper issue of the soul. When we give in to the selfishness and materialism of the world, we reject what really matters and will give us eternal joy instead of temporary, fleeting pleasures. Those pleasures don’t last and leave us empty.
Through Christ, God calls us to what will last, the benefits and rewards of substance and reality. And yet we live in a world bombarding us with a different message.
How do we live as Christians in such a selfish world? We must first expose the core problem.
The Choice of Self
It all began with the Fall. Adam and Eve’s disobedience was choosing self over God.
The first humans lived in perfect relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. Everything was provided, and they had direct contact with the Creator and access to the Tree of Life—a symbol of Christ, the source of eternal life (John 14:6, Revelation 22:2). Despite having everything, Eve chose the serpent’s lie that she lacked something. She and Adam chose their own understanding and desires over God, and humanity fell into the nature of sin and death, severing the perfect intimacy with the Lord they needed.
Along with losing their intimacy with God, they lost their created purpose. Made in God’s image, the Lord meant for them to be stewards of creation and spread his loving rule and reign over the rest of the earth.
Satan had rejected God’s rule, seeking his own glory over the Creator, and the Devil enacted a strategy to shift Adam and Eve’s focus from God to themselves. He introduced doubt in God’s goodness (Genesis 3:1) and promised they could be equal to the Lord (Genesis 3:5), both great deceptions from pride. Adam and Eve disobeyed and placed their own thinking and perception above God’s truth. This was more than breaking a simple rule; by partaking in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they declared their independence from God. They sought a fulfillment apart from God, which doesn’t exist. They chose the self over God, and they received the consequences God promised. Sin and Death entered their lives, and the world suffers entropy as a result. God cast them from Eden’s perfect paradise, from his presence and the Tree of Life that gave immortality.
Fortunately, God made another promise, a plan of redemption to return the Tree of Life to humanity through Christ, restoring what was lost.
The Devil, the Flesh, and the World
From the Fall, all humans live selfishly, and this mindset rules the world and its systems. We have all been born into this world and have suffered from its effects. As a result of the Fall, the Bible says we face three main enemies, working together to lead people away from God and deeper into sin—the Devil, the flesh, and the world (Ephesians 2:1-3).
It begins with the Devil, the source, humanity’s oldest enemy. He has always tried to lead people away from God. Jesus called him “the father of lies” and a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) because of his deceptions that lead to death. Satan still operates this way, tempting people to doubt God, question his goodness, and pursue their own pleasures and self-glory instead of the Lord’s. Satan not only tempts and influences individuals but entire cultures and governments with philosophies, false religions, and selfish living. Paul warns us how Satan “blinds the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4), keeping them from accepting the truth.
Humanity willingly participates in his from our nature and desires. When we act according to lies, we choose to be children of Satan (also in John 8:44). Paul calls this the flesh, or the sin nature, and it is hostile to God (Romans 8:7), and the flesh leads to behavior that destroys life like sexual immorality, impurity, hatred, jealously, selfish ambition (Galatians 5:19-21). The “flesh” doesn’t mean our physical bodies but our wants and desires, what 1 John 2:16 calls “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” The Devil’s temptations work because our “flesh” craves to please itself, which goes against God’s rule and love. These destructive behaviors hurt us, others, and creation, leading to cycles of death and harm.
The world, biblically, doesn’t refer to the physical planet earth. Rather, it means the systems and structures created by sinful humanity. Because people are naturally self-centered, the societies we build express and manifest selfishness. Governments, economies, entertainment, and social mores are often influenced or infused with greed, power, and pursuing pleasures. Rather than seeking God’s Kingdom, we build our own, symbolized in the Bible by the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) and empires like Babylon. In these false, temporary kingdoms, justice is corrupted, truth is suppressed, and evil is defined as good.
Thankfully, through Christ, we have another option. There’s hope.
Christ, the New Creation, and the Kingdom
When we repent, we return to the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, and this is the only solution to humanity’s separation from God. Christ transforms us and gives us a different path than Satan, the flesh, and the world.
First, through repentance, we trade the source from Satan to Christ. Our repentance rejects the Devil’s rule, and we embrace Christ as our source of identity, truth, and life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” the only way to the Father (John 14:16). Christ doesn’t only say true things, he is truth. When we follow him, he frees us from the lies and brings us into the light of fellowship with God (John 8:12) instead of darkness. Now we listen to God’s voice instead of the enemy’s lies.
Second, now in Christ, we trade our sinful nature for the indwelling Spirit. We don’t just get forgiveness; Christ makes us new creations. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The flesh used to control us, enslave us, but now in Christ, we get a new heart and the Holy Spirit to empower us to live and follow the divine.
Being born again isn’t being a better person, it’s a supernatural and miraculous transformation. The old self dies. We kill selfishness, embracing self-sacrifice like Jesus, and with the new self in Jesus, we find a new, eternal life that satisfies us with intimacy and purpose, all we long for. The battle against temptation still exists, but God invites us into Christ’s victory over sin and death (from the crucifixion and resurrection), living completely reliant upon him.
Third, God’s redemptive plan has a goal, not individuals but a people. The original design was for a people, Adam and Eve in a growing family of love and righteousness, people made in God’s image. Now we have the Kingdom of God, heaven expressed on earth through a people we call the church—gathered born again believers who are now God’s home. Upon repentance, we become spiritual children of God, citizens and inheritors of a new, eternal kingdom (Philippians 3:20).
As citizens of heaven, we don’t conform to the selfish patters of the world (Romans 12:2). Instead of chasing power, control, wealth, and pleasures, we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he promises to then care for all our needs (Matthew 6:33). As our goals shift from our being self-centered to following Christ in obedience, we become ambassadors of the Kingdom, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to a world in darkness. We love others, desiring to see others freed from the oppressions of the Devil, the flesh, and the world. Such freedom is only found in Christ.
How and Why Do We Live Selflessly?
All this sounds great, right? But how do we practically live for Christ in such a dark and selfish world?
First, we die to our self to find real life. Jesus made it clear. To follow him, we must deny ourselves. “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) This means rejecting our natural desires and submitting to God’s will, understanding he alone is good and his will leads to the best. As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) The world teaches self-preservation. As my mentor used to say, even a roach tries to escape getting squished by a shoe. But when we give up our life, we go contrary to the death of the world and find the life of the Kingdom.
Second, this takes humility. Pride seeks its own way, but humility willingly bows to God and trusts his provision. We trust him to preserve and provide for us instead of our own abilities. Paul teaches in 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 the interests of others.” Jesus set the example. Though he was God, he became human and lived as a servant, humbling himself even to the death on a humiliating cross (Philippians 2:5-8). As the Son of God didn’t claim his own rights but gave to save others, how much more should we? In this, we will also reap the same forever and resurrected rewards as sons and daughters of the Father.
Third, we must walk by the Spirit. When we live by the Spirit, he leads us to obey God and resist our lusts. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). The Spirit gives us power to choose love, joy, and righteousness over sin. We must follow his lead moment by moment, listening to his voice. As we walk with him, he produces fruit through us to help others.
Fourth, this fruit comes from living selflessly and modeling Jesus’ love and generosity. Christ gave his time, healing and bringing relief of all types to those in need. He ultimately gave his life, not out of some sort of love of pain but so others could live and be reconciled to the Father. He calls us to do the same. “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34) We don’t have to save up our resources or seek attention or affection because God loves and provides for us from his heavenly resources, allowing us to be radically generous and loving.
Fourth and finally, we live selflessly because God rewards those who do. Because of obedience, God gave Jesus “the name above all names.” (Philippians 2:9) At the same time, God promises to reward those who serve him. In this life, he gives us his peace, a purpose, and provides for our needs. For eternity, he makes us inheritors of his kingdom in a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 22). We live selflessly knowing God is with us now, helping us endure, and looking ahead to what he’s promised.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/AaronAmat
