Two extremes of self-interest

“This passion empties one of self.  One does not “self-empty” by focusing upon oneself.  One is emptied of self to the degree one is overcome by the needs, pain, hopes and desires of others.  When concern for others takes one utterly beyond self-interest, beyond obsession with achievements and self-obsessing guilt over failures, beyond self, then one receives of the comfort of an Easter “yes” so overwhelming, unconditional, undeniable, and absolute that it is experienced as unfailing and forever–a yes more potent and enduring than any imaginable no” (Reflection on Phil. 2:1-13 by William Greenway in Daily Feast Devotional)

This Philippians passage has come up frequently recently, making me think I’m supposed to be paying attention to it.  What’s compelling to me about this reflection is the idea that concern for others pushes you beyond self-interest and beyond self-obsessing guilt over failures.  It’s easy for me to see the emptying of self as moving beyond obsessions with achievements and success.  But it’s somewhat different and new to consider the other side of self-interest, which is obsessing over failure and weakness.  What this guy is saying that having the attitude of Christ, emptying self, etc., pushes you past your obsession with weakness AND/OR strength as you are “overcome by the needs, pain, hopes and desires of others.”

I suppose that’s what that phrase “get over yourself” means.  What challenges me about this reflection is that it is the “putting others’ needs before your own” that takes you through and past the emptying of self.  On one hand, it is what I have experienced in my own life.  When I truly put the pain, hopes and desires of others first, I am am emptied of my self.  And when I talk with a youth or young adult who cannot see light past their current entangled emotions and situations, I will frequently encourage them to pour into the needs of others and see what that does to the weight of the darkness that seems to be weighing so heavy on their shoulders at the moment.  But on the other hand, it sure doesn’t seem to be something that shows up naturally in the life of the church (small ‘c’ church, not ‘Church).

And there’s definitely the ‘practice what you preach,’ challenge.  It’s easy for me to challenge others to allow themselves to be released from the obsessing guilt of failure.  It’s much harder for me to release myself…or be released from…my own guilt about what I perceive as my own failure and weakness.

So “having the attitude of Christ” invites me past the tomb into an experience of the Easter “yes,” in which  I am emptied of both extremes of self-interest. I wonder what that would feel like or look like in my life?

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