Toy Stories: Ken — Provider vs. Performer - Thursday
Today’s Verse
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (ESV)
I have always really admired musicians.
From a young age, I have always loved listening to music, spending any and every long car ride with headphones on. By the time I was in early high school, I started going to concerts and determined who my “favorite band” was at the time. Since then, I have had about five different favorite bands.
I became so obsessed with one band in particular that when I went to one of their concerts for the first time, I arrived at the venue hours before it opened so that I could sit front and center of the stage, and maybe even meet the lead singer.
I was elated when I accomplished both of these tasks! When I met the lead singer of the band, I was so excited that when I went to take a picture with him, my hand shook so much that the photo turned out blurry. No one can distinguish anything going on in the photo to this day.
It was really easy for me to count the people in these bands as “more significant” than myself.
However, when Paul challenged followers of Jesus to “count others as more significant than yourselves,” he did not put a qualifier on who we should count as more significant, which leads us to the conclusion that we ought to count everyone as more significant than ourselves.
But… how can we?
How can we count noisy neighbors, people we disagree with on political issues, or people who hurt us the most as more significant than ourselves?
What if I told you that Jesus did that?
Jesus, God in flesh, loved the ones that no one paid any attention to, the corrupt political employees, the violent political revolutionists, and the ones whom the religious leaders deemed impure and unclean.
Not only did Jesus love each of those people, but he also invited each of them to follow Him and become His disciples.
And Jesus counted them ALL as more significant than Himself when He gave His life for them (and us) on the cross.
We must do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider everyone—even those we struggle to think deserve it—as more significant than ourselves.
And to do that, we cannot only say, “Jesus loves them”, but we must take on the characteristics of Jesus and choose to love them too. To elevate their needs above our own. To truly count them as more significant than ourselves.
APPLICATION
One of the most loving things you can do for someone is pray for them. Take a moment today to write down a prayer for someone whom you struggle to think of as more significant than yourself. Ask God to help them, to heal them, and to make His love for them known.
PRAYER
Jesus, thank you for counting me as more significant than yourself when you died for me on the cross. Help me to live a life like you did, where you loved everyone you encountered. Where you counted everyone as more significant than yourself.