At a church service we attended a few weeks ago, a member of our congregation told of attending a meeting of a group of people who were struggling to overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol. He was very impressed by their willingness to admit that their dependence on these items was only a symptom of greater problems within. The man who attended this meeting then told us that even though he was not addicted to alcohol or drugs, he was a recovering “selfaholic.” He went on to explain that all of us are in reality selfaholics.

When we think about it, we realize that this is true and even those who are truly converted to Christ are still recovering selfaholics who are being transformed by God’s power. It is, in fact, the dominating love of self which leads us into sin. Although some people can hide it better than others, none of us can escape the fact that we are by nature very selfish creatures. In Romans 3:23 we read that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (The New King James Version).

Speaking of Jesus, J. B. Phillips wrote: “It was pride and self-righteousness and the exploitation of others which called forth His greatest anger. Self-love in fact He saw as the arch-enemy. It was this which must be recognized and deliberately killed if a man were to follow His way of constructive love” (Your God Is Too Small, page 91). Jesus made it very clear that the worst thing that can happen to people is for them to end up imprisoned eternally to sin and selfishness: “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Again, in Matthew 10:28, Jesus made the gravity of the situation very clear: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Thomas A. Kempis wrote: “Know that the love of yourself is more hurtful to you than anything else in the world” (Of the Imitation of Christ, p. 42). Because the love of self is more harmful to us than anything else, the Lord tells us to deny ourselves:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

Speaking concerning the 25th verse, Raymond L. Cramer made this observation:

The phrase, “save his life,” refers to saving it for a selfish purpose, utilizing ability in terms of self-gratification—a self-possessed, self-centered life. Jesus was not talking here about some distant future, but physical, down-to-earth, everyday living. He claimed that anyone who used his life in this way would lose it. The word “lose” means to become empty, void, useless and destructive. That which is capable of being useful becomes a source of insecurity, greed, and a vehicle of hostility if it is used for selfish purposes. Fear and anxiety result when man tries to hang onto his life. He loses what he is trying to save—life itself. (The Psychology of Jesus and Mental Health, page 126)

Charles L. Allen commented:

The best summary of the Ten Commandments is the one Jesus gave: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind . . . Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ” (Matthew 22:37, 39). Put God and others first; get something into your mind greater than yourself. In so doing you lose yourself, selfishness is blotted out; instead of making ourselves miserable by what we do not have, we begin to gain the blessed thrill of giving what we can give. (God’s Psychiatry, page 80)

Many people feel that “sin” only occurs when we do wrong to others. The truth of the matter, however, is that our selfishness continually leads us into sins of omission. This is explained in James 4:17: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus declares that those who selfishly ignore the needs of others will be found on his “left hand” in the day of judgment (see verses 31-46). It is very easy for us to see the sins and selfishness of others and fail to comprehend our own wicked condition before God. Jesus expressed it in this way:

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)

The Pharisees once asked why Jesus ate with “tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus responded as follows: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). Since Jesus made it clear in other verses that the Pharisees themselves were spiritually blind, it is obvious that he was trying to tell them that people must realize their own sinful condition, repent and be born again before they can enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees simply refused to face this fact. Since they did not believe they were spiritually sick, they had no need of the Great Physician.

In Luke 18:9-14 we read a parable Jesus related the following:

. . . to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It is very easy to condemn the alcoholic, drug addict, adulterer, murderer or those who commit other flagrant sins and yet refuse to see our own sinful and selfish condition before a holy God. If, however, we confess to God that we are truly selfaholics who are desperately in need of his mercy, we will be forgiven of all our sins. Those of us who have taken this step of faith must continue to remember that we are only recovering selfaholics who need God’s power to overcome this addiction to having our own selfish way. Besides trusting in the Lord’s strength, we need to find a support group of other recovering selfaholics who can encourage us to remain strong in times of temptations. This group is usually known as a “church.” If it is serving its true purpose, a church is actually like a hospital, where the Great Physician is working through others to help treat our selfaholic condition. We, in turn, can encourage others to resist the temptations which selfaholics encounter.

Those of us who have come to God for healing must be careful that we do not think that we are better than other selfaholics who have not yet come to accept the truth about their condition. Apostle Paul wrote: “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). [It is only] “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

According to the Bible, those who refuse to acknowledge they are selfaholics and claim that they “have no need of a physician” will remain in that unhappy condition forever, whereas those who admit they have a problem and turn to God will receive His help in treating this condition and in the next life they will find total deliverance and eternal happiness.

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