Love is unselfish and pursues the best for others, but that isn't what the world believes or wants. The exact opposite - self-love - is desired and promoted as what is best. Organizations, education, and self-help gurus believe that self-esteem and self-love will make the world a better place to live.

Has it? Of course not! The damage of the lie shows up daily, especially in the way politics focuses on name-calling and demeaning people instead of assessing facts. That, in turn, promotes hostility and more selfish behavior - the whirlpool of filth sucking us down the porcelain receptacle.

God’s Word is clear..."Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." - James 3:16

God's Word says all people are born with a sin nature, which is the energy for "flashing our ME." Loving oneself does not help; it hurts us. Research shows a clear correlation between hostility and high self-esteem. Thus, the reason you most often find high self-esteem as an underlying issue with criminal behavior. When you pursue your own best, it contradicts what other people see as their best. Therefore, hostility is likely.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own... – 1 Corinthians 4-5

Love Versus Selfishness

Love is starkly different - love is unselfish! When you speak about love and selfishness, you are talking about opposites. Love is not an enemy of selfishness, but selfishness is an enemy of love!

Those two words easily represent God and Satan. God is love, and Satan is selfishness. Satan is all about pride, self-absorption, and flashing his ME. Satan continually seeks his own way and has high self-esteem. God did not turn against Satan; it was Satan who turned against God.

Love never pursues the hurt or neglect of others. It is just the opposite; love strives for their best. Love is unselfish and pursues the highest good for others, even enemies (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:35). The huge benefit is the pleasure of God, who provides you with satisfaction and fulfillment.

Think about that. When you seek your way, you want satisfaction and fulfillment, but it is, at best, temporary; more likely, it doesn’t happen. It is temporary because the self receives power from the world system, and who rules the world right now? Satan, but his rule is temporary.

On the other hand, when you pursue the best for others, you operate with an eternal perspective. That is where long-term, even eternal satisfaction and fulfillment reside. When you pursue the highest good for others, your reward is lasting satisfaction.

Temporary Satisfaction

Consider this scenario. You are selfish and self-absorbed. And, you want satisfaction.

So, you indulge in your appetites, impulses, and pleasures and get some satisfaction. Since fulfillment is based on something temporary by nature, it can only provide satisfaction according to its nature. For example, eating a piece of fruit provides temporary fulfillment because it is temporal in nature. Indulging in materialism, sex, drugs, and alcohol provides temporary satisfaction due to their temporal properties.

Worse yet, dependence on the temporary item quickly escalates because you want the satisfaction again. But, the object of your desired satisfaction is temporary by nature and invariably produces less, not more, satisfaction as you rely on it.

You continue to escalate your reliance on it or allow your appetites, impulses, and pleasures to drive you into something that promises more satisfaction than you are currently getting. But satisfaction is built on a temporal foundation, and it becomes a Ponzi scheme that eventually collapses.

You want satisfaction, but it is always temporary and ultimately fleeting.

True Satisfaction

Instead of pursuing your own benefit, suppose you believe love is unselfish and pursue the best for another person. And what you did actually helps them. Or suppose you believe love is unselfish and you do the same thing, but they don’t benefit. Is there satisfaction in either situation? 

It can be! But, again, satisfaction depends on the object you trust to provide satisfaction. If you depend on the person acknowledging how much you helped them, you depend on a faulty, temporal source, yourself. And, you actually do not believe that love is unselfish. You think that you should get something in return. That means you have an ROI (return on investment) relationship with that person.

If you trust in God’s nature, His perfection, and His trustworthiness, you will be satisfied every time you do what He wants you to do. He is the Living Water! That is different from earthly water, which satisfies for a while and then less the more you drink. And you always need to return because its ability to satisfy wears off.

Love is unselfish and completely satisfying when you put all your thinking and pleasure into doing what God asks. That is where true satisfaction is found! It is a satisfaction that isn't dependent on life, circumstances, or people.

Pursue Obeying God

And God provides additional rewards when you serve others with the intent of your heart to please Him. Look at Isaiah 58:10-11 to see the benefits God delivers when you serve others. Some people will thank you for your service, even though you weren’t seeking their thanks. That is just like God; He blesses you when you do what He wants you to do. He also provides you peace and joy even when others are displeased with you.

That is the Christian paradox. Lose your life, and you save it. Pass up selfish pleasures, and you get eternal rewards and satisfaction.

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. – 1Timothy 6:18-19.