As a pastor I do my best to look at situations from all angles. We are all flawed individuals and we all tend to have our own skewed perspective on things. So could my view be the wrong view? Absolutely! This is true for all of us; the problem is that many of us don’t like to think about this reality.
We live in a world that is fixed on the idea that “my way is the right way” and we don’t like to think otherwise. Our sinful nature pulls us in a direction that says it’s all about me, it’s all about my beliefs and ideas. The thing is: this is totally opposite of how Christ has called us to live.
As followers of Jesus, we’re called to put others first. Philippians 2:3-4 says it this way: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Do NOTHING out of selfish ambition. Wow, what if this was how we actually lived our lives. What if we lived life with an other’s first attitude? I’m guessing there would be a lot less fighting and arguing in our world. We love to put ourselves and our own beliefs first, ostracizing others and making them feel less than. I don’t believe this is God’s desire for our lives.
In today’s world, I’ve heard people talk about their “God-given rights” and we do have specific rights as human beings. But something we need to understand is that when we say yes to Jesus, we actually give up OUR rights. When we make Him Lord of our lives, we are saying yes to His way of life.
This means we should be seeking to live the way He calls us to live in His Word. We are called to put others first, we are called to first be servants, we are called to lay down our own wants and desires to live and love like Jesus did.
Let me finish by sharing with you the next part of Philippians 2. In verses 5 through 8, Paul says this: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Thankfully we don’t need to die on a cross, but we do need to die to ourselves. We need to stop making it all about us and seek to put others first as we learn to live and love like Jesus!
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