The New Year is coming, and I’m taking steps to make it a year of blessing. I want another year of growing in my passion for Jesus Christ.
Do you ever worry that, like the churches in Revelation, your passion may have become lukewarm? It’s a common concern for Christians. It happened to those early believers, and it can happen to us.
In a post several months ago, I wrote, “Our mission requires self-denial, but we cannot make self-denial be the mission.”
What do you think about this idea?
A friend commented wisely, saying he doesn’t believe American Christians place too much emphasis on self-denial. We pay lip service to self-denial, but we tend to struggle with self-indulgence.
I agree with his points completely. Surprisingly though, I believe the solution to American self-indulgence is not less Individualism, but more.
I advocate an unusual approach to these topics based what I see as a foundational principle in Scripture: Holy Self-Interest.
The principle says:
“It is always in your rational self-interest to do the right thing.”
Rightly understood, self-interest and morality are inseparable. The right thing is the right thing because it leads to your own rational self-interest.
The first step of my philosophical journey was reading The Fountainhead. The novel taught me to uncompromisingly seek my own rational self-interest. If values are personal and selfish, then I must choose them myself. From my smallest choice of personal taste, to my choices in friends or career, I cannot depend on others to set my direction. For every choice I make, I must have a reason.
Is art a commodity? No, says Mike Cosper. Mainly, it is a gift. This was a major theme of the writing conference: “Word and Words.”
Hosted by Sojourn Community Church, the conference brought together a prestigious group of writers and teachers, including Gregory Thornbury and Mike Cosper.
