“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Say what? If we state one of our main goals as Christians as being --- “becoming more like Jesus” --- then we have a LOT to work on ahead of us! And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could spend the rest of my life working on this one little directive from scripture and still never have it mastered. Consider others as more important than me? Who can DO that? Of course, some people are better at it than others, but we’re talking about true humility here. And the best example we have to point to is, of course, Jesus himself.
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”
There can never be another act of humility to match this one. The very Son of God in all his sovereign power, perfection, and holiness willingly putting on this stinking, corrupt, sin-sick flesh and coming down to dwell with the likes of us so that He can give His life that we might find life. And yet we sinners so often think so highly of ourselves that we look down our noses at others, put our conveniences before the needs of others, and turn our backs on one another when help is needed. All because we come first! Hey, it’s part of our sin nature and it’s something we need to constantly pray about and do battle with. Let’s all remember that James 4:6 says that God “…resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. Let’s remember the supreme example of Jesus laying down His precious life to rescue ours. And let’s follow His example by not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should and doing a better job of “…considering others better than ourselves”.
By Dave Thompson
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