“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.”
If I could instill
one attitude into everyone who serves at the ranch (including myself) – this
would be it. Imagine the quality of your
life, your relationships, and your service to God if you looked to the interest
of others instead of yourself, valued others above yourself, were humble, and
had no vain conceit or selfish ambition.
Dear God I want to live like that!
What keeps us from
living like that? One simple word: Self. Self is the root of all sin; it is what
causes us to say, “My will be done,”
instead of, “Thy will be done.” Self is what makes us look away from those in
need, or worse yet, not even notice them because we are so absorbed with
ourselves. Self is what makes us
complain that our IPAD isn’t working when people in the world are starving to
death. Self is what keeps us in bed
instead of getting up to spend time with the Lord. Self is a devious little devil.
As a task oriented
person, the “self” that trips me up the most is self-rule. I want to do the things I want to do when I
want to do them. I am so focused on my
agenda – my to-do list – that I don’t pay attention to the needs of others –
God’s to-do list. We all have things
that we need to get done, but we have to remember that God calls us to look to
the interests of others. As we take care
of our business, we have to keep an eye open to help others along the way.So, what is the “self” that gets in the way of you living a Philippians 2 kind of life? If you need a prompt, here are six types of selfishness (there are many more) that we all struggle with to some extent. I borrowed this list from an article online, if you would like to read the whole thing, here is the page… www.redmeatforthesoul.com/article/six_types_of_selfishness_that_jesus_died_to_kill
- Self-focus: I lose interest in a conversation
that's not about me or in a story that I'm not telling.
- Self-glorification: I do what I do to make a name for
myself, to get noticed, to get recognition, or to be seen as someone
important.
- Self-obsession: My internal dialogue is all about me.
How do I look? How do I feel? What should I do? Why didn't so-and-so
acknowledge me?
- Self-rule: Me determining the rules of my life,
silently or not so silently demanding that others keep my commandments.
- Self-righteousness: Thinking I am better than others, or
the “mature Christian” version: looking down my nose at people who don't
realize they're sinful like me.
- Self-reliance: Living as if I don't need divine
intervention to do life, which especially manifests itself in pockets of
prayerlessness.
“And
he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but
for him who died for them and was raised again.” – 2 Corinthians 5:15
