Not Good Enough to be Selfless

To overcome evil, you must be selfless. If you fail, you will be factionless: without family, without a home, without hope.

Or… can you fake it?

This is the choice Beatrice faces at the beginning of Divergent. She could choose any faction, but her family, the life she’s known, it’s all Abnegation. This faction believes that all evil comes from selfishness, so to overcome evil, a person must become selfless.

Beatrice grew up in that selfless world. She has seen how it works in her family, in her friends, in her society.

She has never been good enough.

When I look at the Abnegation lifestyle as an outsider, I think it’s beautiful. When I watch my family move in harmony; when we go to dinner parties and everyone cleans together afterward without having to be asked; when I see Caleb help strangers carry their groceries, I fall in love with this life all over again. It’s only when I try to live it myself that I have trouble. It never feels genuine.”

Beatrice knows that she should be selfless. She really does. And she truly believes that selfless people make the world better.

But her actions and her desires don’t match up.

I am not selfless enough. Sixteen years of trying and I am not enough.”

Actually, it’s even worse than that. A great deal of the time… she doesn’t even want to be selfless. She doesn’t even see the actions she could take to help others.

Throughout the first part of the book, she constantly beats herself up. She should be better. In part because of her guilt, in part because of her inability to be good enough, Beatrice chooses a different faction. She chooses to be selfish, to turn away from selflessness, and be something else. Something different.

Do you identify with Beatrice? Do you find yourself seeing Christians around you and wondering if you could ever be as good as them? Do you find yourself putting on an act in an attempt to try and look better than you really are on the inside? Or do you know the truth… that you’re not all that great, and so you’ve given up?

“I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). That’s St. Paul writing that. Sure sounds like Beatrice, though, doesn’t it? Someone who knows she should be selfless… but isn’t.

Sounds like me. I should be better.

But I’m not better.

When I look at me, I will never be good enough. Sure, maybe the people around me are fooled. Maybe they have no clue how selfish I really am. Maybe I can get by and look so polished and good.

Yeah. It’s an act. I’m not good. I’m not selfless. I’m just like Beatrice, going through the motions, but really not good enough on the inside. And we both know that we’re just fooling everyone around us, apparently.

Beatrice wasn’t good enough to be called Abnegation. I’m not good enough to be considered a Christian.

Christians are supposed to be better than me, aren’t they? I’m not selfless enough. Thirty-one years of trying and I’m not enough. Like Paul, I’m a wretch. “What a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death?” he writes (Romans 7:24).

So, is that it? Like Beatrice, should we turn away from selflessness altogether, give up the act, and run away to join a different faction?

The effect of the pill may last for thirty day period as well as many cheapest viagra donssite.com years. They are either selling fake pills or are willing to indulge in some crazy sexual sessions, then use dark chocolate which is generic cialis in canada less processed. This medicine can be used by men for treating erectile http://www.donssite.com/OPTICALIILLUSIONS/next5.htm viagra sans prescription dysfunction. These are some of the misconceptions of tablet sildenafil people with regard to the effect of the drug. That’s not where Paul goes. “What a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

The truth is… we’re not selfless. Not by nature.

We’re not good enough. We could fake it, but we still know we’re lying. We can’t keep smiling and pretending that we’re selfless. We know better. If we have any hope, it’s got to be outside of ourselves. If we want to be good enough… someone’s going to have to change us. If we could be good enough on our own, we would have done it already.

But we haven’t.

We need someone else.

Is there anyone good enough? Is there anyone out there who could be selfless like we should be?

In all of human history, the only natural-born Abnegation member would have been… Jesus. He was truly selfless, making himself nothing for nothings like us. He was selfless enough. Thirty-three years of trying, and he was enough.

And then he sacrificed himself for us in the ultimate selfless act.

And God made him who had no sin to become sin for us… so that in him we might become the righteousness, the selflessness of God. When you trust Jesus, you are selfless – not because of who you are, but because Jesus was.

Beatrice found that even when she ran away and joined the Dauntless, the faction founded on courage, she most faced her fear when she protected others. She was selfless even then. You see, it wasn’t her. She had been transformed and she never even knew it.

Christian, you also have been transformed. After all, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Does that mean you will always be selfless?

Nope.

You still have a sinful nature, just like Paul did. You will struggle, just like Beatrice did. You will still be selfish at times, just like they both were.

But you are not acting or pretending when you are selfless. That is Jesus moving you to both will and do his good pleasure. That is him, preparing good works for you to do. That’s him, choosing you to bear good fruit.

Are you good enough to be a Christian? Nope. But Jesus is, and he chose you. He has washed you, making you a saint. You are good enough.

Was Beatrice good enough to be Abnegation? Having read the book, I think she fits better as a Dauntless. I think she chose well – but she carried her selflessness with her. Being brave and being selfless are not opposites. In fact, very often selflessness is required to be brave.

But if she looked at herself, no, she would never be good enough to live up to the Abnegation ideals. She never would be.

Neither would I.

Good thing Jesus came and changed us!