Self(less or ish)ness?

Last night I went to Tori Kelly's concert here in Austin. It was amazing (for the most part). What made it less amazing was the people. Ugh. People are so SELFISH. For example, there's was a group of 15ish people who cut in line before the concert. And there was a couple who tried to push their way in front of me. Then one of them had the audacity to ask me "Can you move bro?" No I can't move because you're trying to make my personal space your space.

How can people be so selfish? Why are people so selfish? Why don't people have any common courtesy? Then I had one of those Jimmy Neutron "brain blasts". I remembered everything God has been showing me the past few days.

Let me backtrack to a month or two ago. I bought this bracelet from myintent.org. Basically, it's a metal washer and some string. You engrave a word onto the washer and pay $15 for it. I know, some of you all think it's a waste of money. But that's not the point. The point is that I chose the word "SELFLESSNESS". And little did I know, this word would come to mean so much more to me now than it did back then.

I'm going to credit Isaac Lim (my bible study teacher), Christian Lee (a pastor at New Philly), and Judah Smith for the following insight.

The Essence of Sin is Selfishness
Adam and Eve disobeyed God because they believed that they could become like God. They were thinking about themselves. Look at the ten commandments. The first couple laws deal with loving God. The others talk about loving your neighbor. No where does it talk about YOURSELF.

God is the Essence of Selflessness
Let me explain. I think we can all agree that God is love. And according to 1 Corinthians 13:5, "[Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered..." If God is love and love is selflessness, then God is selflessness.

Sin is the opposite of God. It's everything against God. Coincidentally, sin is selfishness which is the complete opposite of selflessness (which is God).

My Conclusion
I never thought about this word so intently when I first designed my bracelet. Originally, I just wanted to be reminded to be selfless and serve others. That's what Jesus did. And I wanted do what Christ did. 

Ironically, selflessness isn't just an action of God. It's the essence of God. To be more like Christ is to become more selfless. But it's our human nature to be selfish. We grow up learning to say "mine". We're taught to hate others for their well-being. Why is it that we wish misfortune on others when they are blessed? It's so weird how we automatically resort to selfish thoughts. But that's proof that we are born sinners.

But if we live with Christ in us, we can overcome our selfishness. Through Christ, we can serve others and be selfless. Christ came down to serve. Not to be served. 

And only he can do that because he is full in God. He is God. He doesn't need to be served because he is complete and fulfilled in God, who is the essence of selflessness.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

Hope you guys can be encouraged through this. Sorry if it was a bit longer than usual. But props if you made it to the end!