Serving Others/Serving Yourself

It was a seeking (not in the willow creek/saddleback sense) youth who provoked me enough to look into the writer/philosopher Ayn Rand. The minute I did I was hooked in the same way I can't stop listening to Michael Savage, et al. It's so disturbing that I can't look away--call it philosophical rubber-necking.
The quote above (posted on a website dedicated to her life's work)sums up the sentiment that I find alarming. How can a person be so self-involved that the needs of the world become offensive?

Sometimes such an extreme view opens us up for alarming introspection. Many within the Christian church find it difficult to explain the need to help others. "Because it's the right thing to do" doesn't cut it. It's almost as if we are afraid to allow our acts of compassion to become too closely associated with our Christian discipleship. It's a radical shift in thinking to say that my service to others is best when motivated solely by my participation in God's work through Jesus Christ.

The irony today is that our country (which is currently and unapologetically run on "Christian" values) has a new representative to the world in John Bolton. Bolton represents an ideology that says that we (US) always have the right-of-way. We will operate out of our self-interest. It is as if the needs of the world have become far too offensive to us. I'm praying for humility.