Phil.2:4

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

But who comes first? How exactly do we balance self against others? Is there a fixed ratio, 50-50, 40-60, 75-25? I'm not sure there is an easy way to work this out. When I'm stopped in the street and asked to give just £2 a month to a children's charity or an animal welfare organisation or some other worthy cause, I confess that I usually say no and argue that I already give to various charitable things. I sponsor a child, I support a widow in Africa, I give to the church.

In other words I tell them I'm doing enough. And yet I wonder if that's true.

Perhaps the answer to this conundrum lies in being honest about what we are doing. I'm not sure you'll find many places in the Bible where it encourages you to take a little me-time. It might be culturally expedient, but me-time in the Bible doesn't exist as far as I can tell.

What does exist is taking time to to listen to the prompting of God's Spirit, to reflect on the investment of our lives and to ask honest questions about what we could be doing differently. How could we better invest our time and money for the glory of God? How can we learn to look to the needs of others a little more and to our own needs a little less.

To quote Rick Warren: It's not about thinking less of yourself, it's about thinking about yourself less.