Jesus spent much of his ministry trying to teach us that life is more than just taking care of your own needs.  He said, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Then he said, "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."  In both of these quotes Jesus guides us away from always thinking of ourselves first, and towards thinking of others.
   The strange thing is that the values of our society seem to guide us in just the opposite direction.  Everything we read or watch on TV seems to point toward fulfilling our own needs first.  And even the attempts to make us think of others are usually promoted by telling us how good "we" will feel, as individuals.  Again, it is our own interests that we think of first.
   I find myself getting caught up in this thinking at times, and I can feel justified by thinking that everyone else is doing the same thing (taking care of themselves first).  It may be true.  But I think that it is because we have been conditioned to think this way by our society.
   One of the really great things about the church and the Bible, is that we can find so many stories and teachings which remind us that there is more to life than just creating our own comfort and security.  In fact the Bible warns us that our own attempts to create our own comfort and security are really worthless.  They are like grass that withers and flowers that fall, "but the word of our God stands forever."
   There is another way of living which seeks not to gather riches or comfort, or security, for oneself, but rather seeks to share these things with others.  Some have observed that the culture seems to be moving in the direction of a corporate identity, thinking of ourselves in terms of our relationships with others.  I see this happening in our society as ethnic identity is gaining importance.  Groups are gathering and finding common