The Pursuit of Self

Do you ever just go to a public place,
Seat yourself on a park bench or in a corner at your favorite coffee shop, or wherever it might be,
and just watch people.

Even the parking lot of the grocery store is sometimes fun.
I like to go to downtown areas and walk the streets on a friday or saturday night.
If you do this enough you will find that there is a HUGE common denominator that drives the thoughts, words and actions of every single one of them.
We all have the attitude of What is in it for me?
Whether it be the village idiot walking loudly down the street making a scene,
Begging people to notice him.
Hard to believe but this usually stems from Low self Esteem,
or a huge amount of pride usually due to low self esteem.

Or you could see that group of girls,
walking down the road with tiaras and large inflatable man parts having their last night of freedom celebration for a dear friend.
Are they doing it for her?
No,
They are trying to get attention from others hoping to validate themselves.

Or the guys standing on the street corners
Holding up their signs Proclaiming that they are right and everyone else is wrong, and everyone else is going to pay dearly unless they join them.
Even that is selfish. i am pretty sure those guys don't check their pride at the door.
Im all for preaching the Gospel, but The message of Hell without an answer for it is not the gospel, it is destruction

And in 99.9 percent of the places in this world, you find people seeking after one thing.
Our world is plagued by a disease of selfishness.  Even "Christians" Choose a Church by the style of worship music they like best.
We elect presidents based on whether or not he agrees with me about letting gays get married.
We don't stop and look at who is better for this country in this situation at this point in time.

There are some out there who are starting to get it right.
maybe not every second of every day,
But they are beginning to see past their own noses,
Realizing that there is a Lost and Hurting World out there,
that has no idea that there is anything else but the pursuit of pleasing themselves.
They start making friends, finding needs, and filling them in ways that they have never been filled before.
And these friends begin to do the same, cause the know what it feels like for someone to do it for them, and they start to see needs, and when they fill those needs they have no idea they could have ever felt so fulfilled.
And even on some level there is a selfishness to that, but it is one that lifts up, rather than tears down
It is a selfish joy, from unselfish actions.
It is as close as we can get to being selfless.
Because even our best thoughts, words, deeds and steps are broken and marred with sin.