Do nothing from selfish ambition 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.
Philippians 2:1-11
Since all humans were, are, and will be born in Adam, we live this earthly life with a fallen nature and achieving unity with other people is no easy task. Even in Christian churches, the power of sin can force us to violate God’s law and, as the presence of sin remains, we are continually tempted to go back to the worldly way of doing things. In our verses today, Paul gives us the guidance we need on how to achieve love and unity. In these verses, Paul calls us to avoid rivalry and conceit and, to practice humility in our dealings with others. Christ modeled godly lowliness for His people as Paul writes. Paul admonishes Christians, then and now, that, instead of jockeying for position or attempting to make a name for ourselves, our motivation in ministry must be love for God and His people, desiring to see our brothers and sisters in Christ flourish. In our attitude of humility, we must “count others more significant” than ourselves. This does not mean that we should have a negative estimation of our own self-worth or refuse to be honest about our own abilities. In his other writings, Paul encourages Christians to think of ourselves soberly and properly, recognizing our own dignity without thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. We are not to view other people as inherently better than we are because of their talents or position. We are to count others as more significant than ourselves insofar as we consider their needs before our own. Within the body of Christ we become great by serving others as Jesus did the night before His crucifixion when He washed the Disciples’ feet. The point is that our direction must be fundamentally other-centered. We must consider the needs and interests of others with the utmost attention, with an eye to denying our own desires if it means benefitting another. A 16th century theologian commented, “we can put others before ourselves more easily when we are severe with our own faults and charitable in our judgment of others.” If we assume the best in other people in the church, we will find ourselves more readily surrendering our own rights in order to serve them. If we assume the worst, we will find it nearly impossible to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Source: S C Ball February 15, 2024
Leave a Reply