1.13. 2017 Finney on THE PURSUIT OF SELFISHNESS

LOVE..DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN. I Corinthians 13.4-5

342  Charity, or christian love, 'does not seek its own'. the question is not whether it is lawful to have any regard to our own happiness. on the contrary, part of our duty is to regard our own happiness according  to its value when compared with other interests. god has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  matthew 22.39 this plainly makes it a duty to love ourselves and regard our own happiness by the same rule that we regard the happiness of others.

we must regard the promises of God and threatenings of evil as affecting ourselves. but a threat against us is not as important as a threat against a large number of individuals. imagine a threat of evil against yourself as an individual. this is not as important as if it included your family. then imagine it extended to the congregation, the state, the nation or the world. the happiness of an individual., although great, should not be regarded as supreme.

I am a minister. suppose God says tome, 'if you do not do your duty, you will be sent to hell'. this is a great evil and i ought to avoid it. instead, imagine that He says, 'if your people do not do their duty, they will all be set to hell.  but if you faithfully do your duty, you will save the whole congregation'.
is it right for me to be as much influenced by the fear of evil to myself as by the fear of having a whole congregation sent to hell?
343,...when Christ sent out His disciples, two by two, to preach and to work miracles, they came back full of joy and exultation because they found even the devils yielding to their power. they sad, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. Luke 10.17 Jesus answered, 'do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven' v20 here He taught that it is a greater good to have our names written in heaven than to enjoy great temporal power, even authority over devils themselves.
THE BIBLE TEACHES PREFERENCE OF ETERNAL GOOD OVER TEMPORAL GOOD.
this is different from regarding our own individual interests as the supreme object.

hope and fear should influence our conduct. but when we are influenced by hope and fear, the things that are oped or feared should be weighed according to their real value in comparison with other interest.

Benevolence and Complacency

344 the Bible tell us that God is love