Me, Myself, & I: A Tale Of Utter Selfishness

Lately I’ve been really trying to understand our culture: Trying to understand why our society has become so corrupted, why people do the things they do, how their beliefs tie in to it, what it is exactly that our culture believes to be true, and so on. After finally beginning to have gained some semblance of an understanding, Romans 1 has never made as much sense as it does now. Please, read. And see if you don’t recognize some similarities between the Romans 1 culture and American culture as it is today.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

So, tell me, as you read these verses, what were your thoughts? Did they by any chance go along the lines of this angry rant? : “This is EXACTLY what has happened because of evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, because of the homosexuals fighting for marriage, because of abortion and laws that are being proposed to take God out of the public realm. EXACTLY. When will those Atheists and Agnostics and liberals and homosexuals and drunkards and feminists and sexually promiscuous young people finally realize that what they’re doing is wrong?” I hope that is not what you were thinking, but if you are reading this as a Christian it is very likely that you were. It’s funny, because I used to think that way too. And now let me point out the flaw in that kind of thinking, a flaw that I have very much so come to recognize that I myself hold.

Notice first that the culture Paul is describing here is a culture that initially knew God. They KNEW Him. They recognized His existence, they knew His character, they even personally knew Him. Paul is not describing Atheists or Agnostics or Muslims or Buddhists, He is not describing a culture full of people who do not know God. He is describing the very people of God. Those who knew Him personally and yet still turned their backs on Him. And how did they turn their backs on Him? Just as man always has, as portrayed in Genesis 3. By exchanging God’s truth for a lie one lie at a time. By living independently of God, by functioning solely out of the shame that comes from not knowing Him, by avoiding God Himself and living only to prove to Him that they can save themselves. This first happens by twisting the truth. By taking the very Word of God as we ourselves interpret it and claiming our interpretation to be THE truth. By twisting the purpose of our lives from knowing God to simply pleasing Him. By turning something even as beautiful as the Gospel into yet another rule to follow in order to prove your worthiness to God. “See God. Do you see all that I do? Do you see my faith? I witness to my neighbors, I go to church three times a week, I go to Bible Study and read Christian books. I raise my hands in worship, I pray in public, I am faithful to my spouse, I preach from the pulpit, I teach Sunday School and work with kids at VBS. I am not even remotely like the people of this culture. Look how good I am compared to them, God. Look at all the good that I’ve done.”

And yet as Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon I recently listened to, Religious people and Nonreligious people are essentially the same in that they are all avoiding God. The only difference is that Religious people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Whether you are religious or not, whether you are deemed good or bad by the standards of your peers or society, I guarantee you this: That we are all by nature entirely and completely selfish. Even Darwin and Nietzche recognized this. For when we love, we love only so that we will be loved in return. When we seek peace, it is only so that we will not have to experience the consequences of conflict. When we give, it is only so that we will be given unto. Whether it be a thank you, a gift in return, a high regard, or self-satisfaction, our motives are entirely selfish. This selfishness is the very result of a people who know God deciding that they’d really just like to know Him less, and eventually not at all.

We Christians are not immune to this selfishness and we are not immune to our culture. We did not suddenly become better than everyone else the moment we said the sinner’s prayer. We have not proven ourselves better by living “godly” lives. We do not deserve what God has given us by professing faith. We are still utterly and desperately in need of God’s mercy. I am coming to realize more and more that the only reason I myself am able to ever selflessly love at all---which believe me, is a rare occasion---is because of Christ in me. It is because of the Holy Spirit which God has given to me, who prays for me and keeps me in constant communion with God, even when I myself am not seeking Him. Apart from Him, I truly do no real good.

It is our very pride, the very belief that we are deemed good by what we do that has led our culture astray. We are acting no differently than any other religion in that we are forcing our morality onto others, expecting people who don’t know God to act as if they do, and we are rarely ever showing them through our own words and actions who this great God that we serve really is. We do not show them because we barely know Him ourselves. We are fighting a worthless fight to even attempt to spread the Gospel through the law, because it can not be accomplished through the law. Why are we fighting so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on the penny? Does God Himself dwell in the penny? Will our children come to know Him through the penny? And why must we push so hard to keep “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Forcing anyone to make a statement of faith which they don’t believe is only to ask them to live a lie. We are not changing the hearts of anyone, we are only changing their actions. Even the battle for public prayer in schools is bordering on ridiculous, because it is not as if we are stopping anyone from communicating with God. Can prayer not be prayed silently? Can students not gather among themselves to pray? This country is not a Christian country, but it was indeed founded on Christian principles: the very principles that all men are created equal, are given the right to free speech and are given a freedom of religion. God Himself has given us this very freedom…in which we can either know Him through Christ and follow Him or turn from Him and ultimately pay the consequences that come from not knowing Him.

Do you know why our culture is going down the drain? Because we ourselves have become influenced by our culture. It is a materialist culture, in which to see is to believe. In which we can only know what is true if it is validated by our very sight. We can not see God, therefore He must not exist. We can not see the battle raging on between angels and demons, between God and Satan, between ourselves and Satan, therefore such supernatural beings must not exist. The battle must not exist. We have never seen a miracle, therefore they must not exist. We have never known a prophet nor seen a prophecy fulfilled, therefore prophecy must be outdated. We’ve never personally had a vision or God-given dream, so the testimony of those who have is rendered irrelevant. We can not see heaven, therefore we must live as though there isn’t one, as though this earth is the only home we will ever know. The spoken word…the written word. Surely such a means can not be reliable. Only that which can be seen or measured can. We are a culture who sees with their eyes rather than through them. We determine the value of a person based on the way they look and act and give no heed to the value that God Himself places upon them. We ignore the fact that God has declared His love for ALL of mankind, and have claimed His love only to be for us. We assume that our culture does so much wrong because they have rejected the Gospel, but in reality many have neither heard nor seen the Gospel lived out by its followers. We no longer see by our faith, nor do we walk by our faith. We are but blindly crawling about with our noses turned up, nobly striving to live a godly life without God in it.

If we really want to see a change in this country, then perhaps we should begin with the advice of Ghandi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us begin not with a vote, not with a prayer meeting, but by admitting we can do nothing of our own accord and humbly praying “Lord, have mercy on ME, a sinner. Lord, save ME from MYSELF.” The change must begin in our own hearts, not in the hearts of everyone else…though we would all certainly love to believe so.