Thanks, Bob. This sounds like a good bulletin article & since I do our church's bulletin, it will find its way there. Also it is something that I think each of us need to be constantly reminded of.
Bill
The Empire of Self
Following the selfish path rather than the self-giving path will not only destroy you, but in the long run it will poison all your relationships as well. The crucial question in our lives is if we will be centered on God or centered on self. Someone has said; "Those who are centered on self will sacrifice others for themselves. Those who are centered on God will sacrifice themselves for others."
I have recently been reading a book written by Albrecht Speer, Reich Minister for Armaments in Germany in World War II. He tells of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Himmler kept trying to develop his own industrial empire within the S.S. even when it meant literally stealing workers and resources away from the regular factories. German chances of victory were set back considerably by his self-centered ambitions. A blessing in disguise!
This is an important observation; the perverted doctrines of the Nazis produced people who could not sacrifice their own interests even in the common cause. Sometimes, even in Christianity we see people still pursuing their own self-centered concerns rather than the common cause. They continue to snipe and complain about their fellow believers. One lady regularly sends in her weekly list of complaints about the worship or other matters. This person has never uttered an encouraging word!
What is the problem? As James Tolle has said; "We must get ourselves off our hands by turning our lives over to God. We are often trying to hang onto our "selfish empire" even if it means the whole outfit will go down the drain! Let's abdicate as Chief of this little empire, run up the white flag and accept the real King as Ruler of our lives!
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (nerdneh @ Aug. 16 2002,04:43)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]The Empire of Self
Following the selfish path rather than the self-giving path will not only destroy you, but in the long run it will poison all your relationships as well. The crucial question in our lives is if we will be centered on God or centered on self. Someone has said; "Those who are centered on self will sacrifice others for themselves. Those who are centered on God will sacrifice themselves for others."
I have recently been reading a book written by Albrecht Speer, Reich Minister for Armaments in Germany in World War II. He tells of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Himmler kept trying to develop his own industrial empire within the S.S. even when it meant literally stealing workers and resources away from the regular factories. German chances of victory were set back considerably by his self-centered ambitions. A blessing in disguise!
This is an important observation; the perverted doctrines of the Nazis produced people who could not sacrifice their own interests even in the common cause. Sometimes, even in Christianity we see people still pursuing their own self-centered concerns rather than the common cause. They continue to snipe and complain about their fellow believers. One lady regularly sends in her weekly list of complaints about the worship or other matters. This person has never uttered an encouraging word!
What is the problem? As James Tolle has said; "We must get ourselves off our hands by turning our lives over to God. We are often trying to hang onto our "selfish empire" even if it means the whole outfit will go down the drain! Let's abdicate as Chief of this little empire, run up the white flag and accept the real King as Ruler of our lives![/quote]
Bob,
I'm all for abdicating the throne to the ruler, Jesus Christ. I have to remember everyday that I died to sin, and I died to the old self.
Kevin