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Devotional, Series

KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN, Part 18: Don’t Be Self-Centered

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By Rev. Todd R. Lattig

Read Philippians 2:1-11

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13 NLT).

We’ve all seen those bumper stickers and church signs urging us to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Well-intentioned? Sure. But often missing the mark? Absolutely. They focus on preserving a commercialized image of “baby Jesus” rather than embracing the full, transformative power of Christ in our lives. The real challenge isn’t just keeping Christ in a holiday—it’s keeping Christ in Christian.

Image: AI-generated by Rev. Todd R. Lattig using Adobe Firefly and modified by the author.

Part 18: Don’t Be Self-Centered. Some of you may have heard the famous allegory of the long spoons, which illustrates the stark contrast between heaven and hell. The story goes that a person was given a tour of both realms. In hell, they saw people sitting around a large pot of stew, each holding a long-handled spoon. Despite the abundance of food, they were unable to feed themselves because the spoons were too long to reach their mouths. Their frustration and suffering were palpable.

In contrast, when they visited heaven, they found a nearly identical scene: people sitting around a pot of stew with the same long-handled spoons. However, here, everyone was well-nourished and joyful. The difference was not in the circumstances but in the actions of the people. In heaven, they used their long spoons to feed each other, demonstrating a selfless love and community that allowed them to thrive.

This allegory teaches us an important truth: self-centeredness leads to emptiness and suffering, while selflessness brings joy and fulfillment. As Christians, we are called to live out our faith in a way that values others above ourselves. This is not just an ideal but a command rooted in Scripture.

In Philippians 2:1-11, Paul paints a vivid picture of what it means to live humbly and selflessly. Paul urges believers to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who “gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being” (Philippians 2:7 NLT). Jesus’ entire life was marked by humility and service to others, culminating in Jesus’ ultimate act of selflessness on the cross.

Self-centeredness is one of the most pervasive challenges we face today. It shows up in countless ways—when we prioritize our own comfort over someone else’s needs, when we seek recognition for our good deeds, or when we avoid helping others because it feels inconvenient. Some of us may even choose to “sleep in” or prioritize leisure activities over worshiping God or serving in mission. Social media amplifies this tendency by encouraging us to curate perfect versions of ourselves for validation and attention.

But Jesus calls us to something radically different. In John 15:12-13, Jesus tells us to love one another as He has loved us—a love so profound that it lays down its life for others. This kind of love isn’t about grand gestures; it’s about daily acts of kindness, humility, and service.

Think about your own life for a moment. Are there areas where self-centeredness has crept in? Maybe it’s in your relationships—where you expect others to meet your needs without considering theirs—or in your work or ministry—where you focus on personal success rather than serving those around you. These are hard questions to ask ourselves, but they are necessary if we want to grow as followers of Christ.

The good news is that we don’t have to overcome self-centeredness on our own. God gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us and transform our hearts. When we surrender our desires and ambitions to God’s will, God replaces them with a spirit of humility and love.

The world tells us that putting ourselves first is the key to happiness; Scripture tells us the opposite. True joy comes when we put God first, trusting God with our needs and living out our faith by prioritizing others while also taking care of ourselves in a balanced way. Just like those in heaven using their long spoons to feed each other, we thrive when we live selflessly within community.

As we reflect on this lesson from Philippians 2 and the allegory of the long spoons, let’s commit ourselves to living out Christ’s example of humility and service. Let’s reject self-centeredness and embrace a life that values others above ourselves.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
True joy comes not from serving ourselves but from serving others with humility and love.

PRAYER
God, help us to reject self-centeredness and embrace humility as we follow Your example. Teach us to value others above ourselves while caring for ourselves in balance. Transform our hearts so that we may reflect Your selfless nature in all we do. Amen.

Devotion written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of Perplexity AI.

Devotional

Grim Grinning Ghosts

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Read 1 Samuel 28:7-20

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (Galatians 6:7 NLT)

 “When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a singing wake. Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.” Thus the song, “Grim Grinning Ghosts”, kicks off as one is winding down from the roof of Walt Disney World’s “The Haunted Mansion”, to the graveyard below, filled with ghostly ghouls and whisping spirits flying through the night sky. As a huge Disney fan, who will be at the parks this summer as well, “The Haunted Mansion” is without doubt my all-time favorite ride.

As most people know, I love horror movies and, in particular, I love a good ghost tale. One of my more favorite ghost movies is an independent film called, “Gravedancers”. I am not sure how many people realize this or not, but it is a fact that this film was inspired by Disney’s “The Haunted Mansion”, which is the favorite ride of the director/writer of the film. He has loved that ride since he was a child and the frightful fancies it induced.

In fact, it is the song from the famous ride, “Grim Grinning Ghosts” that the director drew the most inspiration from when coming up with the ghosts that were going to be haunting his film. Perhaps, the word “haunt” is an understatement when it comes to these ghosts. Take a long, uncomfortable look at the ghost pictured above. They go beyond creepy, to downright making your skin crawl at first sight.

Like all horror films, there is a certainly immorality present in all of the characters that causes the horror they go through to manifest in their lives. The ghosts that haunt them, no doubt, do so because they disregard their own moral compasses and act selfishly, with little regard to others (including the dead) in the process. Their sins literally come back to haunt them in ways that are both horrifying and unforgettable. Like, the images literally are etched into one’s mind after seeing this film.

One of the main moral failures that he characters display in this film, is the utter and total disregard of others. The story starts off with a group of college friends reuniting years after they had graduated in order to attend the funeral of one of their former friends. Following the funeral, they all go out drinking and end up taking their party to a cemetery because, well, excessive alcohol intake leads to some pretty nonsensical and irrational decisions and deeds.

At the cemetery, they open up a letter in a black envelope that has a poem in it, which beckons them to dance on the graves of the dead. To most sober people, this would sound like a bad idea just out of respect for the dead and their living, grieving, loved ones. But these characters (to avoid using a more pejorative word) think this would be a great way to celebrate their lives. So they dance and, in doing so, desecrate the graves of the dead, awakening the rage of some pretty vengeful and malicious spirits.

There’s something in this story for us to pull from. How often do we go about our lives, merely thinking of ourselves and our own. We call ourselves Godly people because we, typically, care for those we love and those who love us back. We call ourselves “good” people because there are “far worse” people than us out there; however, we are, admittedly, “not as good” as we could be. We measure the merit of our lifestyles by how much gratification it gives us, with often little to no regard for whether our lifestyles are impedeing and/or harming others, and we fight to keep the status quo so that the powers that be, so-to-speak, favor us over and above others.

While we may not be dancing on the graves of the dead, we are often living our lives in a way that dances on the lives of others, thus sealing their fate in terms of their suffering. We often are dancing on the living graves of the oppressed in order to enjoy the benefits that are afforded to us but not to others. In doing so, we are also simultaneously conjuring up grim grinning ghosts that come to haunt us in ways we could have never imagined.

Just take a look at all of the chaos and woes of society, and you will see the grim grinning ghosts that have been unearthed by the sins of a people who have forgotten to live justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. What can we do about it? We can choose to begin to fight for justice, for equality, and for the peaceable Kingdom of God in our households, our communities, and our world. Through standing up for such ideals, and through self-reflection and contemplation, we can be holy agents of change.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.” – Italo Calvino

PRAYER
Lord, empower me to recognize the ghosts I have unleashed in my life, and in the lives of others. Help me to stand true in your light in order to remove them once and for all. Amen.

Devotional

Trading Twilight for Sunlight

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Read Romans 3:10-233

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:24-25)

Just recently my girls were re-watching the Twilight series. Do you remember that movie series, which ended a couple of years ago with “Breaking Dawn.” Before “New Moon”, “Eclipse”, and “Breaking Dawn” came out, I had read all of the books. I guess I found the movie “Twilight” captivating enough to read the books. My favorite of those books, to this date, is “New Moon” because I love the character development of one of the supporting characters, Jacob Black. In that book, he goes from a boy to a man and, though ending up on the short end of the stick in terms of getting the girl, I would argue he would be the better for it if it weren’t for the author’s contemptuous ending.

But that is neither here nor there. I have a love/hate relationship with that book series. I thought the author did a great job in capturing teenage love, to a “T”, and really transported the older readers back to High School, which for me was more of a nightmare than a pleasure. But still, she did do a good job of that. WIth that said, the entire series, minus one section of the last book, was completely written in the first person. The story is being told as if it were the thoughts of the main character, Bella Swan. SIDE NOTE: Bella means “beautiful” in Italian, so her name really translates to “Beautiful Swan”. Mein Gott!

Despite her name, being inside her head was anything but beautiful. It was in there that I saw her justify manipulating people such as Jacob Black. She used him in order to fill a void in her life that her boyfriend Edward couldn’t fill. And, when she was finished using him, she dumped him like a bag of hot coals. But it wasn’t enough for her to dump him, she had to make him feel guilty for not just wanting to “be friends.” I also saw her manipulate her other friends, her father, and even Edward in order to get the things that she wanted.

I could go on and on about this, but it should suffice to say that being inside her head made me feel trapped. I wanted to get out of in the worst way. Let me pause here, because I don’t want to be too unfair to Ms. Swan. She may be a flawed character, but which one of us arent. Every day we live inside our own heads and every day, we think and do things that aren’t always the most virtuous things to do.  It is the nature of being subjective human beings, isn’t it? We know what we are thinking and feeling, and those thoughts and feelings always take precedence over what others are thinking and feeling. After all, we really don’t know what others think and feel…it’s kind of out of sight and out of mind.

Even as I sit here and criticize Bella Swan for being manipulative, I fully recognize that I, too, have been manipulative in the past. Which one of us hasn’t been? If we are honest, we will readily admit that none of us are perfect. As Paul writes, we “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23). But Christ calls us to move beyond our shortcomings and to enter into a new life of living in Christ’s mind as opposed to ours.

Today’s challenge is to step outside of yourself. Begin to see, feel and experience things as Christ did. How do you do this? By entering into a relationship with Christ, one in which you hold yourself accountable to his teachings and to his way of living. Ask the questions, daily, what did Christ do? Then, without a moment’s hesitation, step out and start doing what Christ did. Start caring for the poor, the sick, the differently-abled, the imprisoned, the homeless, the naked. Start being a presence of HOPE, HEALING, and WHOLENESS in the lives of others and you will see that you are no longer trapped in your own head, but are free in Christ’s. Go forth, live and die for others as Christ did.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.” – St. Francis of Assisi

PRAYER
Lord, help me to conquer being stuck in myself and give me your mind, filled with love and compassion for others. Amen.