Self-Interests: Right Or Wrong

Think of it this way?

We are considered “smart” if we eat a healthy diet, take time to exercise, get enough sleep, and respect laws that are made for our well-being, protection, and the rights or others. Actually, we will do well if we adopt these behaviors because they reflect “God-care” - honoring the life that God has given us, and others, by respecting His ultimate act in creation - us. Caring for ourselves must not be considered as “self-centered” if we do what is necessary for our spiritual, mental and physical well-being as a means to honor God. He expects us to care for ourselves as well as others. However, going beyond what is essential becomes “self-worship” or “self-centered.”

Listen to Solomon: “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers.” We honor God and benefit our own wellbeing if we invest our minds and hearts - our souls - in “getting” God’s wisdom. “Soul” as used here refers to the mind, emotions, and will. And, if our “souls” are filled with God’s wisdom, our thinking, feeling, and choices will be controlled by Him. Our “life-choices,” choices that influence our spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing, will be in keeping with what God planned for us when He created us: to honor the Lord our God with every gift He planted within us!

When we accept our responsibility to “love our own soul,” we adopt a healthy lifestyle. We will make choices for ourselves that bless God and enhance us, and we can be assured that they come from God’s Word and are not self-centered: they are God-centered. Personal wellbeing, then, does not come from ourselves or is for ourselves, but comes from God and is for God.

So, is “self-interest” right or wrong? If we focus on God and His wisdom and use it to glorify Him with our “soul,” self-interest is critical. We do what we do as a means to honor and glorify God.

Prayer: Help us, Father, to be so committed to knowing and applying Your wisdom to our lives that Your interests become ours. May we respect Your gift to us: our life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today: Proverbs 19:8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers.