Okay, raise your hand if you read the title and thought you were going to read about some kind of finance article today. I hate to disappoint you, but that's not going to be our focus today. Instead, we're going to take a few moments to think about a brief statement of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Philippi.
Philippians 2:3-4: "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Okay, it's really easy to lose focus on what Paul is writing here. I didn't include the next verse because it's the beginning of one of Paul's lengthy run-on sentences. However, it points us to Jesus, who put our interests ahead of His own, who demonstrated godly humility in serving others, and who endured suffering and death, and is therefore exalted in the eternal kingdom because of that. And that's the starting point that we always need to keep in mind. We're able to look to the interests of others because Jesus has already looked to our interests.
As God gives new birth to the new creation within us, that new creation looks to live as Jesus did. That means that the new creation looks for opportunities to look to the interests of others. That happens when we set aside our own comfort or preference in order to do what is needful to others, especially when it comes to their relationship with Jesus.
Part of the reason I don't want to give examples of this is because God literally gives so many into our lives on a daily basis that we almost can't miss them. I also don't want to confine how we look to the interests of others by my own suggestions. Some of these come more naturally to us than others. Some people are better at one aspect of this than others. But we all have gifts and uncounted opportunities to look to the interests of others.
Within the household of God, this is especially true. In fact, if I could characterize it a bit, we should almost be tripping over ourselves to look to what is good for others, rather than fighting for our own wants and preferences. It would be great if our first question consistently was, "How does this nurture the sharing of the good news?" Perhaps a bit of a pipe dream, though it does happen more frequently than we sometimes think.
Whose interests are you going to look toward today? Remember, it's not necessarily at the expense of your own (after all, Paul says not to ONLY look to your own interests; there is a level of expectation that you should take care of what God has given you), but when you put the interests of others ahead of your own, you are giving a gift of grace. And isn't grace at the heart and soul of our life together as Christians?
Philippians 2:3-4: "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Okay, it's really easy to lose focus on what Paul is writing here. I didn't include the next verse because it's the beginning of one of Paul's lengthy run-on sentences. However, it points us to Jesus, who put our interests ahead of His own, who demonstrated godly humility in serving others, and who endured suffering and death, and is therefore exalted in the eternal kingdom because of that. And that's the starting point that we always need to keep in mind. We're able to look to the interests of others because Jesus has already looked to our interests.
As God gives new birth to the new creation within us, that new creation looks to live as Jesus did. That means that the new creation looks for opportunities to look to the interests of others. That happens when we set aside our own comfort or preference in order to do what is needful to others, especially when it comes to their relationship with Jesus.
Part of the reason I don't want to give examples of this is because God literally gives so many into our lives on a daily basis that we almost can't miss them. I also don't want to confine how we look to the interests of others by my own suggestions. Some of these come more naturally to us than others. Some people are better at one aspect of this than others. But we all have gifts and uncounted opportunities to look to the interests of others.
Within the household of God, this is especially true. In fact, if I could characterize it a bit, we should almost be tripping over ourselves to look to what is good for others, rather than fighting for our own wants and preferences. It would be great if our first question consistently was, "How does this nurture the sharing of the good news?" Perhaps a bit of a pipe dream, though it does happen more frequently than we sometimes think.
Whose interests are you going to look toward today? Remember, it's not necessarily at the expense of your own (after all, Paul says not to ONLY look to your own interests; there is a level of expectation that you should take care of what God has given you), but when you put the interests of others ahead of your own, you are giving a gift of grace. And isn't grace at the heart and soul of our life together as Christians?
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