30 Days of Birth Pangs - Day 1 Lovers of Self

Matthew 24:8 - Jesus declares that the coming end of the age will be like birth pangs upon a woman.  We know that as labor progresses the pains get more intense and closer together.  This series will explore a new event each day, to encourage the believer, to wake up the sleeping, and to convict the skeptic.  2 Timothy 3:2 famously describes the condition of mankind at the end.  So we will start here - lovers of self.

Selfies = Self Love

Have we ever seen a time where love of self was greater?  In 2013, Oxford Dictionary declared that Selfie was the word of the year.  The advent of social media has perpetuated an age of self worship.  Obviously, man has always loved himself and Jesus admonished us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31) which proves that we do not need to be taught to love ourselves but must learn to love others just as much.

Narcissism is a psychological disorder that inflates the love of self at the expense of empathy for others.  The scientific findings and measurements of the rise in this condition are startling.  Psychology Today reports that simple tests given to college students show " approximately 70 percent of students today score higher on narcissism and lower on empathy than did the average student thirty years ago."

The United States has elected, twice, a President that uses the first person pronouns to such an extent that it would be comical if it was not so serious.  He is President Selfie and has embarrassed himself and the nation numerous times with his unrestrained self love.

September 2011 - UN Heads of State Group Picture

Pop culture idolizes and perpetuates this love of self - people aspire everyday for validation and admiration among their peers and the internet.  Romans 1:28 says that since they have rejected God, He will give them over to a reprobate mind.

We worship ourselves and our bodies.  We know that if we eat the right foods, take the right vitamins, work out in the right way we will preserve this flesh.  It is the same lie... "Surely you will not die..." (Genesis 3:4).  Books can be and have been written on the subject.  If you live in this time, you get the point.

No one is immune from this, we love ourselves.  I'm not excluded from this and it requires prayer and discipline to knock myself off the throne of my life and put the one who rightfully belongs there.  It is a daily discipline.

Lovers of Self - Day 1 in the 30 days of Birth Pangs - Rapture index Score:  10 out of 10