SELAH: DISCOVERING OUR TRUE SELF IN CHRIST - Goodby to Old Self | Mark 8:34–36

I was surprised one day last week when I walked into a large chain bookstore and there was what was called the self-help section of books. Now, I have not been in the bookstore for quite a while, and the self-help section was new to me. And I looked and I saw that the self-help section of books, it was larger than the history section. Larger than a science section... Then the biography section. I do not have figures for the year 2020, but for the year 2019, I see that there were 18.6 million self-help books sold. Self-Help is a booming business, there are self-help gurus everywhere. We are people wanting some help with self because the self is big these days... Self has been big, well, since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Now I'm for self-help, whether it's helping people lose weight, stop smoking, be more positive. Self-Help is okay as far as self-help can go, but self-help is really just superficial because Self-Help cannot go deep to the core of our problem, which is, after all, self.

Now I know that sounds strange to a culture that talks so much about self-esteem, self-actualization, self-confidence, self-expression, and love to send selfie pictures. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about self. Is not about self-help, rather Jesus talked about denying the self... About losing the self. In fact, Jesus says that losing the self is the way to life.

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Download a transcript for the March 16, 2021, Selah Episode.

**This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and may not be 100% accurate.