When you are traveling it is good to have a map. A map will tell you how things are laid out. As we travel through life we have a built-in map to guide us. Paul called it the "flesh." Our "flesh" tells us to "get ahead," "go for the gusto," "live the good life," "look out for 'number one,'" and "let the chips fall where they may." Jesus, on the other hand, tells us that we are made to love others, to serve and not to be served.

Jesus points to the results of living by the flesh. Seeking to be first we will end up last in the final scene. The picture He presents is that of a positive or negative outcome of our lives. If we center our lives around our own needs, we will lose out in the end. God is Love and He created us to spread love about us as we go through life. While our immediate impulse is to "feather our own nest," we must control that impulse and focus on others and their needs. This will lead us in the right direction. It is a better map to live by as we travel through life.

Nine-tenths of our unhappiness is selfishness, and is an insult cast in the face of God.
-G. H. Morrison