Self-Interest and Sin

To say that our lives are marred by sin is at least in part to say that our lives are marred by our self-defeating behaviors. That is, we do not actually act in accordance with our own best interests. We are actually not motivated by self-interest. We are motivated by selfish-ness. These are two entirely different things.

This movement from self-interest to selfish-ness is essentially the move from God at the center of our lives (which is in our own self-interest) to self at the center of our lives (which can only result in disaster). With self at the center, we are alternately proud and self-hateful, confused and conflicted, behaving perfectly generously one day and spoiled-ly rotten the next.

A part of what redemption will mean when all is said and done will be the return of God as the rightful center of all of life. When this happens, our desires will also be (finally!) rightly aligned. And then we will all move and live and relate in ways that are entirely in our own best interest--which might even then include things like sacrifice and giving up our rights in order to experience the joy of self-giving and honoring someone else ahead of ourselves.