I'm a unique individual, and one of the ways God made me unique is that I like watching commercials. I've noticed a bit of a trend lately in commercials and how they appear to be marketing self-centeredness. I recently saw an ad for google shopping where a woman buys a nice sweater for her friend, but then keeps it for herself and instead buys last minute scented candles for her friend. I saw another google ad for a camera that can erase people from photos, which was shown by removing a couple's marriage proposal from a photo for the sake of making someone's trick on a skateboard look better (I'm certain, though, that an engagement is more important than a kick-flip). I've also seen Dell put out a whole advertising campaign for the year and the tagline is, "Expand your Youniverse," (as in a whole reality made up entirely of you). I'd like to say I'm surprised by all this self-centeredness I'm seeing, but I can't say that. I know the culture in which I live is obsessed with self-centeredness in much the same way I too am obsessed with myself.
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| Self-centeredness makes us block out seeing anyone else, but God's word says Christians should honor one another above ourselves (Romans 12:10). |
Self-centeredness is most likely the one sin everyone commits everyday on a regular basis. There are no definitive Bible verses to prove this, but there has been much scholarly study that confirms this. Saint Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century theologian who identified the seven deadly vices (anti-virtues), is most attributed to saying, "Pride (self-centeredness) is the root of all other sins." When we want to put ourselves first, we will do anything it takes to keep ourselves above others; we'll lie, steal, dishonor our parents and even break all of the other ten commandments (Exodus 20). Adam and Eve were self-centered, when they committed the first sin by disobeying God's command just for what they believed was personal gain (Genesis 3). This destructive self-centeredness didn't fizzle out after Adam and Eve. It spread throughout history all the way to the New Testament and beyond into our present. James wrote "where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice," (James 3:16). Well, here in the world we have loads of self-centered people, and if we look hard enough in our history we could certainly find instances of every possible evil practice.
Sometimes we, as human beings, can be so self-centered we don't even notice it. Consider this: I started every sentence in the first paragraph with "I". It's possible you didn't even notice, but it's also possible that you did notice but it didn't seem like a big deal. Some of you might have even thought, "What's so bad about someone talking about themselves over and over again? I do it all the time." If that's the case, then we've got to look at how bad self-centeredness is and what God thinks of it.
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| In present day America many groups embrace "pride", but Christians should see that any movement with pride as its main motivator is going to lead to only destruction (Galatians 6:14). |
Jesus says that the greatest commandment is that we should love Him with all of our being (Mark 12:30), but we can't do that, if we are being self-centered. When we, as human beings, act self-centered we cause fights and quarrels among ourselves, and we covet and even kill for our own selfish gain (James 4:1-2). It is written, "Pride goes before destruction," (Proverbs 16:18), so every instance of man-made destruction of which we can think was caused by someone's self-centeredness. Being self-centered is so dangerous that Paul writes in no vague terms, "Do nothing [absolutely nothing] out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves," (Philippians 2:3). We need to run away from our natural self-centeredness and fully embrace humility, for God opposes the self-centered, "but shows favor to the humble," (Proverbs 3:34). If we truly want what is best for ourselves, then we will lay down our pride to follow God above our own desires, for it is written, "Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life," (Proverbs 22:4).
Yes, commercials play to our natural self-centeredness, but Christians shouldn't find anything appealing about these advertisements. It's not good for someone to keep a gift intended for someone else for themselves, it's not attractive to think doing something to impress your friends is more important than someone loving another, and it would be the worst thing ever to truly live in a "Youniverse". The next time you see self-centeredness being applauded in an advertisement or maybe even being exhibited by you, it would be wise to think of that self-centeredness as nothing but destructive. Being proud is nothing to celebrate, and the Bible shows that anyone who is self-centered will not be honored by God (Matthew 23:12). If we truly saw how despicable our pride and selfishness really is, then I'm sure we'd have no problem obeying Jesus when He says, "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me," (Matthew 16:24).
So long, self
Don't take this wrong
but you are wrong for me, farewell
Oh well, goodbye, don't cry
So long, self
- MercyMe
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- OpenBibleInfo: Self-Centeredness
- OpenBibleInfo: Humility
- Britannica: Seven Deadly Vices
- MercyMe: So Long Self
