Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Selfless vs. Unselfish

I had a two-page paper on the difference between unselfishness and selflessness but I decided to spare you my rantings.
Here is my thought in a nutshell, though:

The difference between unselfish and selfless is the difference between cost and gain. They are opposites. A person acts unselfishly when he/she does something for someone that will benefit the other while the gain is negligible.

On the other hand, a person acts selflessly when he/she does something for someone that will benefit the other while "doer" experiences a cost factor.

The more selfless the act, the higher the cost.
The more unselfish the act, the lower the gain.

The ultimate act of selflessness?
Doing something for someone that will give great benefit while costing you everything.

The ultimate level is when the deed is done for those who hate you.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


2 comments:

  1. Very nicely said Mike. I quoted your theory in my BSF class when the subject of dying to oneself was discussed. It is a selfless thing indeed to die to oneself for the benefit of another. The cost to us is the laying down of our will for the will of another.

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  2. That's true except that the the higher the cost, the higher the eternal reward. For the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross AND sat down at the right hand of the father. Selflessness has a high cost that pays a great eternal reward IMO

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