(blank results) KJV

Selfish does not appear in the King James Version of the bible. I find that curious, so I examined other translations.

(ESV) Selfish Ambition.

(NASB) adds Selfish Appetite and Conceit.

(RSV) adds Ungrateful and Surly (Apocrypha).

(NIV) adds nothing new but expresses ambition as gain and end results.

I have to tell you I am surprised and perhaps a little disappointed that this is all I could find relating directly to selfishness. I expected more expressions or examples to learn from. If I am going to be honest with myself, it must be attached to a personal expression of my own conscience.

I am selfish with my time. Where does that fit in context with the scriptures? I suppose it depends on how I am using my time. I am zealous of my quiet time. I do not like to be disturbed when I am with my Lord. Is that a bad thing? Not in and of itself, but how does my expression of that zeal affect the person that wants my attention? My Lord has asked me to be kindly affectionate to others. At what point does my selfish zeal in a good thing become tainted?

Perhaps this is the real lesson of selfishness, not that we are selfish, because we are, but in how we allow those moments to affect relationships with others. Not just those we are know, but to anyone who might need the Lord at any particular moment.

“Not now” is a very off-putting term to hear. If you are hurting at the moment it will just intensify the moment and cast a bad light of the author of “not now”.

How about those times when I didn’t even hear the interruption? I get so engrossed in the moment at times that I don’t even hear my wife. I love her dearly and the last thing I want is to make her feel ignored or diminished. I do it, I am sad to say. I’d hate to think it is because I am selfish. Yet I am.

Hebrews 1:3a Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,

I know I have truncated this verse but I did so to point to the expression of the person, Jesus Christ. We were talking yesterday about knowing the indwelling love of God. Today’s I would like to talk about expressing that love.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

This love Jesus is referring to here is the abiding love. A lost world does not have the indwelling love, cannot feel it, cannot know it, but can witness how love acts, how love expresses itself, by watching how we love one another. This is critical in our witness. If we cannot express this love towards one another who are all in the body of Christ, we look like hypocrites, and they will not be attracted to His love.

Imagine if you will that this indwelling love expression is like a foreign language. The sound of it is attractive. The expressions of the language are intriguing and a desire to know this language is expressed in a non-believer. If you look at placing faith in Jesus Christ as enrolling in the love language course, then you begin with the rudimentary elements of the language, structure, rules, context and form. It is a new language, it has to be learned.

All novice students make mistakes and the instructor, the Holy Spirit in this case, has to make corrections. The ability to express this love language comes thru a comprehensive understand of the express image of God, Jesus Christ. The better you know Christ in an intimate personal relationship, the better you can express His love language.

Knowing Him in truth and power unlocks the key to releasing His love thru our expression of that love.