Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2.4
Living in the highly individualistic West with the strong influence of capitalism, most of our concern is often our own interests. Corporations seek the larger bottom line while we try to increase our paycheck so we can get more stuff. Add to this the “social media” and “connected-ness” it brings, our interests can now be broadcast to the world. Those interests can be selfish, self-promoting and self-serving or it can be our passion. That, my friends, is a fine line.
I’ve been married for over ten years now (which is a personal best). Even if your young and ignorant, you quickly learn, it’s not all about you any more. It’s about her interests and our interests together. Bring children into the mix and things quickly get complicated. All it takes is one little word, action or glance to realize what a selfish jerk I am. When it comes to those outside of immediate family, we can easily gloss over that realization of selfishness.
Our sisters and brothers in Christ may often bear the brunt of our unrealized self-interest. We may cut them off in conversation because our concerns are more important. We get all needy, emotionally dump on them and don’t take the time to be quiet and listen. We consider out interests important because they are ours, we take some ownership of them. Yet when it comes to the Body of Christ that ownership is not entirely ours, we can share it if we choose. Our connection in the Body of Christ allows us to share in the interests of others, giving others priority over our petty selfish interests, sort of like being married….In the end, there will be no church only a Bride….
