Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind." "This is the first and
great commandment." "And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Question, how can you keep the greatest two
commandments of God listed in the scriptures above if
you're always thinking about yourself?

The answer is you can't!

According to these verses you should be thinking about
how to please and serve God all of the time and this
includes splitting the time you think about pleasing
yourself with thinking about and pleasing other people,
which is also the second greatest commandment.

Some "Christians" have fallen for the idea that
when the Bible says that the second greatest
commandment is, "Love your neighbor as yourself.", it
means that before you can keep this commandment, you
must learn to love yourself.

This is not so, the real intent of the Scripture, then,
is that, since you already love yourself, your love for
your neighbor should be at least equal to this.

Imagine if you spent less time thinking about what you
will eat, how you will pay bills, what you will put on,
and things of this nature.

You would then have more time to think about serving
God and helping others in conjunction with the tasks
you already do for yourself everyday.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought
for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is
not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

The Bible also teaches that one should keep a humble
opinion of himself. In Romans 12:3, Paul wrote, "Do not
think of yourself more highly than you ought." and in
Philippians 2:3, "...in lowliness of mind, let each
esteem others better than himself."

God obviously doesn't like proud boasters and people
who seek to build themselves up at the expense of
others.

Therefore when you do good things for other people do
not do it out of pressure or for you own personal gain
but without thinking about yourself point out the good
qualities of that person instead of comparing their
qualities to yours.

Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
others better than themselves.

Jesus said "deny yourself" in which I take to mean deny
yourself of the pleasures of this world that are sin in
order to live Holy.

It could also mean to refuse to believe in or accept
your own ability to live a good life without Jesus and
to give everything to God to take care of, which would
be the appropriate way to live.

Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, "If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow me.

In conclusion if you want to be on the side of God by
not being selfish its important to keep your mind off
of your problems (Ph. 4:8-9). Equally consider the
needs of others with your own needs (Mt.22:39) Take no
thought for your life. (Mt. 6:25) Esteem others better
than yourself. (Ph. 2:3) And to deny yourself by not
giving in to the pleasures of sin. (Mt.16:24).

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