I read the other day about an American tourist who had to be rescued when he fell into the crater of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Guess what he was trying to do? He was trying to take a selfie. His name is Philip Carroll. He is 23 years old, from Maryland.
He climbed a forbidden trail for 4,000 feet up to the peak, according to the police. He dropped his cell phone during the selfie attempt.
A local official said, “He tried to recover it, but he slipped and slid a few meters into the crater. If he had kept going, he would have plunged 300 meters into the crater.” The rescuers had to use a long rope to pull him to safety.
Several weeks ago, I was flying back home from an overseas trip. Prior to takeoff, the young lady who was sitting on the row in front of me got her cell phone and took a selfie. Then she shifted positions and took another selfie. Then another. She took no less than 20 pictures of herself. Seriously, she took at least 20 pictures, not of the plane or other passengers, but of herself.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with taking a selfie. We have all done that. But 20 selfies back-to-back? Almost falling into a crater because we are taking a selfie?
I’m afraid that way too often, we are thinking only of ourselves. Morning, noon and night, that can become our focus. The obsession of our culture with selfies certainly points to this truth.
The Bible points us to something different. The Apostle Paul said, “Do nothing out of selfishness or conceit, but with humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” (Philippians 2: 3-4)
A word from God’s word that, perhaps, we need to hear today.