THE SPIRIT OF SELFISHNESS

THE SPIRIT OF SELFISHNESS

Scripture: Ezekiel 34:18

Topic: The Spirit of Selfishness

“Seemeth it a small thing...to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures?”

Ezekiel 34:18

A selfish person does not care what anybody else thinks or feels. He is only concerned about himself. Can you imagine the disgrace that came to the prodigal boy’s father? Friends might have asked him, “We hear your child is feeding with pigs across the ocean. Is it true?” In our modern world, he would have received many faxes and phone calls but the young boy did not care what anybody thought. 

This selfish attitude is everywhere. In church, I have seen people who turned against me to go on their own way. I even blessed some of them as they left! However, they did not leave quietly. They spread false stories about the church and caused a lot of problems. Such people do not care about whatever happens to the church that nurtured them. Though they benefited from the church for years, they now destroy what they helped to build. 

“For if l build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a TRANSGRESSOR!”

Galatians 2:18

These selfish people now prevent others from benefiting from what they had benefited from over the years

“Seemeth it a small thing...to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures?”

Ezekiel 34:18

 How can you eat up all the good pasture and then tread on the rest of it? What are the others going to eat? Do not be selfish! Is it a small thing for you to drink of the clear waters and after that excrete into the rest of it? What are the others going to drink? There are people who have drunk from the pulpit of a church for several years. When they decide to leave the church, they rather cause a stir in the church and say so many things that damage the reputation of the church and its pastor. When such selfish people leave the church, the rest of the congregation becomes confused: they cannot tell if they are in a good church or not or whether they have a good pastor or not. Woe to you if you act in this selfish manner.  

Everybody grew up somewhere. I grew up in different groups. I belonged to a Christian group called “Calvary Road Incorporated”. I learnt a lot of my ministry skills from this group, and I am grateful to them for this. Now I do not belong to that group anymore; but the fact that I do not belong there anymore does not mean I should destroy them. It is the pasture from which I grew up! It is the water from which I drank! Is it a small thing then, for me to eat of a pasture and after that trample it down, so that nobody else can benefit from it? Is it a small thing to drink of the waters and afterwards urinate in it so that nobody else can benefit from it? That is exactly what people do when they say evil things about the places they came from.

Has somebody been a father to you and nurtured you in the ministry? Then remember that you are not the only one! Others are going to be nurtured by this same man of God. Do not urinate in the water you just drank from. If you want to leave, please just leave. Go quietly and pray for blessings. In Ghana, we have a saying: “You don’t point at your father’s house with your left hand.” There are other Christians who take certain things for granted and live carelessly, regardless of the effect on other people. 

“Let not then your good be evil spoken of:”

Romans 14:16

You have to think about other people and not just about yourself. One day, I spoke to a Christian brother and sister who were living together. I asked them if they were married. They told me they were not. Now, they may not have been committing fornication (which is highly improbable), but what would their next-door neighbour think, seeing them living together but unmarried? If you are not married but live together, people will still see you attending “Goobley-gob” Charismatic Church International; and they will say, “All these charismatic churches are full of hypocrites.” You are giving your church a bad name. And you are giving other churches a bad name as well.

The selfish person is not concerned about trampling upon the testimony of Christ and the church. He will make up every possible excuse. You must care about what people think, especially if you are giving the wrong impression. We manifest a spirit of selfishness when we do not care what happens to the next person. Do you have a spirit of selfishness?

 

Excerpt from: 

Opportunities

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills