It has been the privilege of mine to work with some very high speed units and individuals when I was in the military. I had the opportunity to fly support for a Special Forces group training in Alabama for a few weeks once. One thing that I learned from working with this team was they live by a CODE. Honor, respect, excellence, selflessness and endurance are all qualities they held high. Because of this CODE they were able to accomplish things as a team that others could only hope for. The community known as the church has a CODE as well. Unfortunately it is dusty and unpracticed by some. Pastor Jim cuts to the chase when he lets his church know (JerusalemCommunityChurch.TV) that the problem is within the hearts of the people as he blogs:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” James 3:13-16 NIV

Jim lets us know the root issue is selfish ambition. Selfishness to the church is like spit in your sweet tea. As many try to disguise their selfishness in fake spirituality or phony maturity it all boils down to self centered living (It’s my world, population me.)

How will you recognize this in your life or the life of others? Simple, selfishness rebels against authority, wants its own way, is unwilling to submit, thinks its own opinion is better then anyone else’s and works to get others to feel the same way. Selfishness, rebellion and sin never happen in a vacuum they always look for company. Selfishness is usually huddled up somewhere talking about someone else as they look over their shoulders. When Satan chose to rebel against God he got 1/3rd of the others angels to rebel with him. Why? Because selfishness is the cowardly way. It is loveless and without CODE.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1Cor 13:4-7 NIV

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 6:49 AM and is filed under Church, Leadership, Life Lessons, Relationships, Serving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.