Selfless?

Is it possible to perform a selfless act?

I would like to think so... but then again wouldn't that be for MY benefit? Wouldn't I want that to be so that others would look at me and say, "Wow what a great guy that Garrett is, he cares about others so much. blah blah blah crap crap crap." Do we really just, in the end, do something so that people will think better of us, or that some cosmic force like karma will swing our way because we let an old lady go in front of us in line at McDonalds. Is it possible that we just do this because we're "good people" or maybe we have so little love for ourselves that putting others in front of us/ serving others is the only way we can dignify our existence. Hopefully the latter isn't true. So what can we do to make a good deed not about our gaining something, but us truly sacrificing apart of ourselves for someone else's gain. Say a solider dives on a grenade to save their platoon, is that selfish? I doubt the person had a death wish but one could argue that they wanted to be remembered as a hero, but there's no way for us to know a dead persons motives. But if I had to guess and you wanted to know my opinion which I assume you do because your reading this... I would say that it's either the dumbest thing one could do or one of the bravest. I say bravest. There is no greater sacrifice than for one to lay down their life for a friend- I stole that from the bible I think. So is this sacrifice "good enough" to be deemed selfless? One can't truthfully say 100% one way or the other but I feel like in this situtaion, more than likely, it's selfless.

What about the everyday, real life?

To start, I think it boils down to your view of Christ. I believe that selfless acts outside of Christ, are in the end, for personal gain. I realize this may seem like an erroneous claim but wait. Pyschologist have proven that a great way to get out of depression is to help others in need or just help someone else because in the end it makes you feel better. Example, helping an old woman across the street. When the both of you are across the street she thanks you, says there should be more people like you in the world, and then you get to hear about how she moved from Chicago to Georgia in the 70's and how difficult the move was... But when you continue on down the street unaccompanied by the lovely old lady, a smile comes across your face. Now by no means should you feel guilty for scraping some joy out of life, but by it's nature the phrase selfless act implies that your not doing something for your own pleasure/benefit but rather someone else's. "One of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others." -Rick Warren. When you perform a good act... actually let's say that when God performs a good act through you, does selfishness apply? Our actions here on Earth shouldn't be us trying to have more gifts in heaven or whatever you want to call it. It should be about glorifying God. We need to take our relationship with Christ so seriously and live so deliberately that heaven is but icing on the cake for us when we die (though in actuality it's far more than icing on the cake could ever dream of becoming). Because it's all about the glorification of the God's name, it's not about us getting into heaven. But then is it at this point when we can fianlly do something in the name of the Lord, it be a blessing to someone else, and it truly be selfless? We do this or this is done through us because we love God so much that it flows out of us. E'en so, don't we still get a sense of satisfaction out of being obedient and bring praise to our God? Similar to our old lady, but slightly more meaningful. But is it at this point we've sacrificed ourselves to God thus putting us in the same field as the person that jumped on a grenade, true sacrifice. If we're talking about true sacrifice here I don't see why an act in the name of the Lord can't be selfless. Because to me, sacrifice means giving everything and expecting nothing in return.