Selfishness may express itself in many ways, but for the purposes of looking at the subtle sins that we are sometimes willing to tolerate in our lives, I would like to consider four common areas of selfishness that are often observed in believers.

The first is in the area of interests. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4 NIV)

If we are not careful, we can get so consumed with our work, our hobbies and our personal interests that we have no time to be genuinely interested in what’s going on in the lives of others.

A good test of the degree of selfishness in our own interests would be to reflect on the conversations you’ve had in the past week. How much time did you spend talking about yourself, your interests, your concerns, compared to listening to the needs, interests and concerns of others?

This form of selfishness may seem harmless enough, perhaps perceived only as rude and thoughtless by some, but not sin. But this can be a symptom of self-centeredness. It indicates you are mostly concerned about yourself. Psychologists refer to it as narcissism.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-4, the Apostle Paul provides a list of ugly sins that are characteristic of the last days. He says, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

Have you seen any of these qualities in contemporary culture? The self-centered person cares little for the interests, needs or desires of others. They’re interested only in themselves, and their self-centered conversations reveal the truth.

Selfishness often rears its ugly head in how we use our time. Time is a precious commodity. We all have a fixed amount of time. We’re all so busy, and it’s easy to become selfish with our time or we may selfishly impose on someone else’s time.

In either case, we are thinking mainly about ourselves and our needs. It might be good to know that selfishness is often seen most clearly and most frequently in the home. That is where we allow our true self to show.

Has selfishness crept into your life? What might the Lord be saying to you? Are you willing to listen to him?

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].