Gale Sayers, the great Chicago Bears running back, wrote a hit book back in the 1970s, called "I am Third". The title comes from this anecdote, in the introduction to the book:
"My title, I Am Third, symbolized my philosophy about life. When I was a sophomore at the University of Kansas I had seen this sign on the desk of Bill Easton, who is my track coach. "What's that all about?" I asked Coach Easton. He told me what it meant – "The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third." When I went to the Bears I had a medallion made bearing the words "I am third," and wore it around my neck through my pro career."
This philosophy squares up nicely with Christian doctrine, and it helps us make sense of how to love ourselves - as we do need to do. There's a system, or hierarchy. If we love God and love the neighbor more than ourselves, we've got things in the right order, and - when most people do that - the world is a pretty nice place.
On the other hand, if we look out for "number one", love the people in our circle/clique/gang, but not others, and don't much care what God has to say about things -- then the world isn't such a good place. We have a world where people have locks on their doors, and security on their computers, and build jails and hire policemen.
For reference, see True Christian Religion, in sections 403, and 404, and further in the same book, sections 410 and 411.
