Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.
So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help. (AA, pg 62)
The problem is deeper, and the solution is better.
We do not need God's help for us to focus on being better selves.
The troubles in our lives are not just of our own making, but of our own being:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 16)
Paul is careful to distinguish himself from his flesh.
How is he able to do this?
Because of Christ in him and in all of us, our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27), who is our life (Colossians 3: 4).
He explains further:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)
The flesh, this dead body, alienated from God, is our legacy from Adam.
Christ the second Adam came to die for our sins and crucify sin in the flesh:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)
We do not need to be delivered from self, but rather we need life, and that more abundantly, which we receive from Christ.
There is nothing more cruel than telling people that they must die to themselves, but then not give them something better to receive.
If we do not receive a new life, then we will inevitably return to trying to fix the body and mind that we have with us.
We need to be brought into a new Kingdom, not just a different mode of thinking. We need to know that Christ Jesus has put away all our sins, and sin in the flesh, for good, that we may reign in life with Him.
The issue is more than "Self", but rather the flesh, our dead spirit which needs life, and which we receive when we accept the grace of God by faith in His Son!
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