Are You Selfish?

I've been thinking a lot about a discussion that took place during last Tuesday's Women's Study. As a reminder, we are reading Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges. The chapter was on Selfishness, and the many forms that this sin can take. Bridges focused on four expressions of selfishness, and recommended that we examine each area to see if this sin is prevalent in our lives.

We should first consider our conversations: do we talk about ourselves and our own interests more than listening to others? We should examine our calendars: do we spend all our time in personal pursuits? What about our checkbooks: are we spending all our money just on ourselves? And lastly, are we inconsiderate: do we think about the impact our behavior has on others?

After discussing these areas, we began to see that an additional manifestation of selfishness could be our prayer life. Do we only pray for our individual and family needs? How much time do we devote to interceding for others? For the Kingdom of God to go forth? For the harvest of souls to be completed? For God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?

While initially we all agreed that we shouldn't feel guilty for praying for those things that concern us the most, I do think we were all convicted to at least notice what we pray for. While there is no magical formula which is perfect (60/40 personal/other) I think it is reasonable to expect that prayer should not be just about our own interests.

So join us in paying attention to your prayers: you might be surprised what you find.