Rick Warren in his book Purpose Driven Life says, "Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved, but self-centered. In contrast, world-class Christians know they were saved to serve and made for a mission." Many self-centered Christians are interested in how Christianity is good for them, not what they can do to bring glory to God. They may go to self-help seminars and enjoy being entertained, but self-sacrifice is not in their vocabulary.
You can tell what is important to someone by where they invest their time, energy, and finances. Is your life Christ-centered or self-centered? If it is Christ centered, then you will be investing your time, energy, and finances toward ministry, missions, and the Kingdom of God. If you are self-centered, your time, energy ,and finances will be spent mostly on pleasing yourself.
Self-centeredness will even show up in the way that you pray. Are your prayers about how you can help others and serve God, or are your prayers primarily about ways that God would bless you and help you? Jesus tells us, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)
True fulfillment and the abundant life that Jesus promised (John 10:10) will only be experienced if we seek first the Kingdom of God and live Christ-centered lives. It has been said that you can't take anything with you to heaven ... but you can send it on ahead of you. Jesus said it this way, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." (Matthew 6:2) So let's set our mind on things above, seek first the kingdom and live Christ centered lives. I know we'll be glad we did.
