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IT’S ALL ABOUT SELF
It’s all about self in the world today. Let’s look more closely if you doubt the statement that we live in a self-obsessed world.
- Self-reliance
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay - Self-efficient
- Self-service
- Self-support
- Self-love
- self-worth
Self-Reliance
Under this belief, we announce that our powers and resources are sufficient to reach personal goals and rely on nobody. I once considered myself a self-reliant individual, a female version of Hercules, who could do anything she set her mind to, even though all logic screamed at her “Don’t do it! It’s too heavy!”
Good body mechanics never ensure avoidance of injury nor should they replace common sense! My self-reliance has me on the waiting list for back surgery. How’s it working for you? I now deem my self-reliance as simple stubbornness. Although, my do-it-myself attitude arose out of necessity, even though I have not lived alone.
Unless you are self-employed, do you not rely upon your employer to distribute your paycheck? Hold on…even self-employed people rely on their customers, do they not? I contend that self-reliance does not exist but was created by one who wishes to deceive you into believing that you do not need to rely upon anyone.
Self-Efficient
Although it is a good attribute to be efficient, self-efficiency is another form of an over-inflated ego. My day job requires teamwork to run efficiently. It is possible to do the job alone, however, it is not advisable and can result in mistakes and injury.
My do-it-myself attitude has put me on a leave of absence from my day job, waiting to have surgery on my lower back. Too many years of believing that I was some sort of female Hercules got the best of me. I was hauling 100lb bags of landscaping rock, pushing over-filled wheelbarrows, and other unwise activities for someone of my age and short stature.
My husband never offers to help and I am always tackling jobs on my own. Although he does get credit for helping me put my new shed together and also the catio. For the most part he has avoided any kind of manual labor but all of this is going to change after my surgery.
Self-Service
Have you used the self-checkout at any store? It is more often necessary to use these, as very few human checkout people are working. Self-service gas pumps are now the norm at every gas station and more buffet-type restaurants are popping up.
Self-Support
The condition of surviving without outside assistance. *Credit: Online dictionary
Outside assistance is any assistance that comes from outside of oneself. Again, this term is misleading, because it implies an impossible action when it comes to most daily living activities; If you think about it, and I hope you will.
Self-Love
Although self-love is often portrayed in a therapeutic venue, it is often a cover-up for selfishness. “To thine own self be true” is a quote some think came from the Bible, but came from Act 1 Scene 3 of a play named Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare.
Everywhere you look there will be quotes and memes on social media about how you must love yourself and take care of yourself first before thinking about others. Take a look at the screenshot below of a search I performed while writing this post:
Self-Worth
Finally, yet there are many other descriptions out there, we come to self-worth. What is self-worth? It is the sense of one’s value as a human being. Can this also be misused to lead people astray and into the trenches of selfishness?
Allow me to share a story of one who was so full of himself that he was forced out of the most beautiful place in the universe. His name is Lucifer and he was the most special angel of them all. His beauty was not to be compared and his voice was the sweetest in all of heaven.
Lucifer was considered the number one angel in heaven and the highest esteemed. So what happened? Read what God Himself said about His once beloved creation in Isaiah 14:12-17 nkj
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O [a]Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the [b]lowest depths of the Pit.
Lucifer was no longer content to be the number one angel. He wanted to have all of the glory and worship that God had. He wanted -and still wants- to be God. Lucifer persuaded a third of the angels to rebel against God and see below:
Satan wants all to be self-absorbed to distract us from the one we really need to focus on. He knows that his time is up very soon and is intent on destroying as many of God’s children as possible before He returns to reclaim the earth. This may sound like a science fiction movie but be assured that this spiritual war is very real and we are in the middle of it!
The Time To Choose Is Now
There is no middle ground in this war. You are either for God or Satan and how you choose to live your life is the very way you are deciding which side you prefer. Nobody will be saved IN sin. Do you live for Jesus or Lucifer?
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