Outdoing One Another in Showing Honor and Love
“When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life but be interested in the lives of others.” – Philippians 2:3-4
After reading this verse in my Bible, I struggled to believe it was possible to honor others more than myself. This is an honest thought that popped in my head. How is it possible to do since humans are sinful and thinking about ourselves instead of others seems normal in the world? However, Philippians 2:3-4 tells us nothing we do should be done out of selfish ambition or pride. Anything that is done out of selfish ambition or pride is the desire to be number one, no matter what the cost. This happened to James and John. They asked Jesus for the highest honor in His kingdom, specifically to sit at His right and left hand (Mark 10:35-45).
Jesus explained that these positions are not His to grant but belong to those for whom the Father has prepared for them. However, true greatness in His kingdom comes through service, not rank. He challenged them by asking that if they really wanted the same position as Him, then would they be willing to go through the same suffering as He would have to face? We can be different than the world and put others before us and live for others unselfishly by putting others’ interests above our own. This is foreign to the human mind and cannot be done by our own strength. It is done with help from the Holy Spirit.
We can be encouraged to live like Christ as Philippians states by demonstrating the same humility and valuing others above themselves. Jesus did it by voluntarily giving up divine privileges to become human, living as a servant and even washing His disciples' feet, obeying God to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8), and teaching followers to have the same servant's mindset, putting others' needs before their own.
Prayer for the day:
Dear heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus. He is the example for us to follow. He is our King, a King who came to earth as a servant. Please help us to be like Him and to put others’ needs before our own. We need Your help to outdo one another in showing honor and love. Please help us to be like Jesus since He lived a life that You want us to do the same. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
