You have to Choice to Make

Life is full of choices. Each choice directs our lives in a particular direction, and alters our path in life. We either choose to follow God's will or to follow our own ambitions. Our own ways are the easiest ones to follow. They take no effort or self-discipline on our part. They come to us naturally. Without God, everyone chooses to follow their own thinking and desires. Every choice is made with the intent of benefiting ourselves in one way or another. Every inclination of our thoughts are to further our own causes. The primary task of selfish living is to follow our own ways and desires, and ignore the needs and circumstances of others.
Only God can bring order and direction into our lives. Only God can open our minds to a better way of living. On our own we tend to look after ourselves first. As the great missionary the Apostle Paul wrote about himself, "Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me - I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things" (Romans 7:18-20; NCB). We are involved in a battle with our selfish desires, and without great effort and self-discipline we will lose every time to our selfish ambitions. Only the power of God can bring deliverance and victory into our lives.
The Bible tells us, "So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died [to self and now live to love others]. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good" (Romans 6:12-14; NCB). Freedom from selfishness is through the selfless death of Christ on the cross. He died for our wrongs. We must focus on the power of God in Christ, if we are to be free from the captivating power of selfishness. We now have a way to freedom; the way of the Holy Spirit of God. "Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit" (Romans 8:4b). How do we follow the Spirit? We follow the Spirit by thinking about the things the Spirit wants us to do, by showing love and kindness to others. The choice in life we make is to look after ourselves or to look after others.