“Whoever has faith in God and a sacrificial spirit does not consider himself.
When someone does not cultivate the spirit of sacrifice, he thinks only of himself and wants everybody to sacrifice themselves for him.
But whoever thinks only of himself is isolated from others as well as God—a double isolation—in which case he cannot receive divine Grace.
He becomes a useless person.
One can readily see that he who thinks constantly of himself, his difficulties and troubles, and so on, will not find even some human assistance when a need arises….
On the contrary, someone who does not think of himself but thinks constantly of others, in the good sense, will be thought of constantly by God, and then others will also think of him.”
Elder Paisios