I once heard someone say: "I have no problem with a dictatorship; as long as I'm the dictator!" In other words, I want to tell you what to do, but do not want you to tell me what to do. Another time I heard the following comment: "Censorship is wrong, but only if you censor me." I pray that the speaker of the latter was unaware of what he actually said. If he was aware, that is a very bold admission of selfishness. The latter quote also says (brace yourself), I want to tell you what to do, but do not want you to tell me what to do". Sound familiar?
Those are two very blatant statements of self-serving, but how many times do we do and say things that are just as self-serving but not as obvious? How about the times when our only reason for disagreeing with someone is because "I want it my way"? Or let us consider those instances when someone corrects us and we know we are wrong, but we still get angry at the person. Another would be whenever someone does something that upsets us and we ignore the fact that we have done the very same thing to others and hurt them just as much.
If there is one thing we can see in the life of Christ is that He lived every moment selflessly. He was constantly surrendering His will and actions to the Divine directives of God the Father (He even says this more times than I can count). It is so significant to understanding Who Christ is and what the life is that He calls us to live, that we could say that our entire lives are directed toward one goal: breaking our will for self-service, and creating a will within us that is seeking the glory of God and the good of others before all things. What a world that would be to live in; it would truly be Heaven!