2 Timothy 3:1-5—But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
When I see lists of sin or sinfulness in the Bible it reminds me of how desperately I need Jesus. I could talk about a number of them in my life where I need God’s grace to grow in Christlikeness, but the one on my mind relating to this week’s passage is lovers of self. As a father of five boys and a human being myself, I can say with confidence that this doesn’t need to be taught. We are all lovers of self. It’s in our fleshly nature. If anything, our culture only serves to increase our self-centered love. Our culture attempts to mold us by telling us how important and wonderful we are and how much we really need to learn to love ourselves. We do not need to learn this anymore than we need to learn to breathe.
How do we rid ourselves of this self-love? The passage above it is listed as a quality of those who we should avoid. Seeking our own interests before and above the interests of others is not what Christ modeled for us. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. In His example and in His strength let’s admit to God in prayer that we cannot stop loving ourselves and start living for others without Him as we take up our crosses daily and die to ourselves. When we do this, we live for others and for Him. This is New Covenant love. Loving the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Something to think about…
In what ways am I self-centered, self-seeking, self-serving, and self-loving? Do I trust that if I live my life for Him and others that He will take care of all of my needs?