Who needs to be told that it's not a good thing to be selfish? Yet total unselfishness is utter madness - there are so many people in our world dying of hunger, to give all your food away is to die yourself, without making any ongoing difference.

This is the quandary we in the west often find ourselves in - thanks to mass media, the whole world is our neighbour. We can't logically help everyone. Thanks to the hopefully righteous organisations that mean we can do something.

Still, there is still attitudes that are more important than actions.

And though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Cor. 13:3

The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I (Jesus) am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

And he said to them, Take notice, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life does not consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses. Luke 12:15

If I refer to a child again, you will understand that I am trying to show what people are like "naturally", that without any teaching at all, we are naturally self-centred. When we look at self-will, again it is not hard to picture the crying children at the supermarket, the sibling rivalry, the tantrums, of the young one who wants what he wants when he wants it.

The other aspect of this, is the young one who wants to do his own will, never mind what his carer wants, or what danger s/he may get into!

In a child, it can be funny, or exasperating. An adult who never learns to be different is someone to be very afraid of - whether we think of the HItler's, Lenin's, or any other dictator on a small or large scale.

Again, there is such a balance between rebellious and compliant. There are things that no person should have to obey, things that would harm self or other people, no matter who they are, or what they do. Even animals and plants that we need for food, clothing and shelter should not be destroyed wantonly, or we will regret it. Some of us are learning to "care for the planet".

The fledgling church quickly found themselves, like Jesus, in rebellion with the established order"
Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, see, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5:28-29

This is just another way of saying "pride". But it isn't so clear cut - for we often say to our children "I'm so proud of you!" when they do something special.

We also get quite confused about being humble - it seems a weak, perhaps foolish, even attention seeking thing to do.

But it is very clear how we feel when someone else wants to tell us we are a lesser being than them.

It seems that it is in the comparing of ourselves with others that we can cause problems. I like to tell children that they are all special, that there is just one of them, that history is often changed by just one person - and they could be that person, or their classmate, or brother or sister.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

It was these three things that were described in the garden of Eden, - the first time people did anything God told them not to.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10