Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. - Romans 8:7
The following recipe for unhappiness has been suggested by Charles Kingsley: "Think much about yourself; about what you like; what you want; what respect people ought to pay you; and what people think of you." This is a picture of the carnal mind that is centered on the little realm of self. It refuses to obey God's rules because it is determined to be a law unto itself.
A person who is carnally-minded is seeking his own security without love or regard for others. He is wrapped up in selfish desires, and he sings the popular refrain, "I love me!" Since he lavishes all his love on himself, he has none to give to God or to his neighbor.
Paul describes the remedy for self-centeredness. He says the Christian is "never acting for private ends or from vanity, but humbly considering each other the better man, and each with an eye to the interests of others as well as to his own." - Philippians 2:3.
Sydney Smith gives this practical suggestion: "When you arise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one to fellow creature. It is easily done: a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving; trifles in themselves, light as air will do it, at least for the twenty-four hours; and if you are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you are old; and, if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of humankind to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum, look at the result: You send one person, only one, happily through the day; that is 365 in the course of a year; and suppose you lived forty years only after you commence the course of medicine, you have made 14,600 human beings happy, at all events for a short time." - Neff
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