By Doug Redford
Selfies are one of the products of our modern, high-tech world. They are a common feature at weddings, graduations, birthday parties, family reunions—just about any gathering where people want to take note of who they were with and then share their pictures with others.
While a selfie is fine when it comes to picture taking, it doesn’t work well as a guiding principle for personal behavior. That kind of selfie has been around since the days of the first couple in the Garden of Eden. When the serpent tempted Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, his ploy was to appeal to what he claimed would be in her and Adam’s best interests: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Genesis 11 records the building of a city and a tower by those who desired to “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). Had they possessed the technological know-how, they would have taken a whole host of selfies to commemorate their great achievement. The Lord was not impressed.
Jesus did not specialize in selfies but in servies. He said that he “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). He remained committed to that goal, even when his enemies were taunting him to come down from the cross and “save yourself” (Matthew 27:40). “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!” (v. 42). Had Jesus done so and “saved himself,” we could not be saved.
At Communion, we remember Jesus’ unswerving commitment to servies and that we, though the sinners we are, were the reason for that commitment. He “made himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7), such was his devotion to the way of the cross. Jesus still calls his followers to “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Our selfie with him means being, as Paul put it, “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Paul instructed the Philippian Christians (and us) to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3, 4). Our spiritual “camera” should be focused on others, not on ourselves. And let’s never forget Jesus’ teaching that to address the needs of those around us is the same as serving him (Matthew 25:34-40). Every servie opportunity amounts to a selfie with Jesus.
Doug Redford has served in the preaching ministry, as an editor of adult Sunday school curriculum, and as a Bible college professor. Now retired, he continues to write and speak as opportunities come.
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