1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Modern life has people looking out for #1, as the saying goes. That's a disease that afflicts most of the political spectrum, from folks on the left wanting government to give them extra goodies from folks on the right wanting a pass on having to pay more taxes; both are plugging for extra wealth at the expense of everyone else. Rarely do people look at the greater good of others rather than themselves; Warren Buffett, calling for a tax increase on himself, might be an exception that the left side of the Gallery might note.
Even in the church, we can be rather self-centered, going to church, making our donations and going home. That creates a lot of errors of omission, where we might not be doing anything that looks like sin from the outside, but lacks that interest-of-others that God is calling for. Suburbanites increasing cocoon, spending more time with their neighbors in Farmville (or the Blogosphere, to point three fingers back at me) than their real-world neighbors.
That "bowling alone" meme is one that is hard to crack. Our pastor in Lexington tried to get at that issue, but was shown the door by the church (largely for other issues outside of his control); we're like the old lady who has to be dragged across the street by the Boy Scout doing his good deed for the day.
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