To Encourage You

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

How do you view other people in your life?  How do you view others in your family, your friends, and your neighbors?  Do you look down on anyone?  Do you think you are better than someone else?  Have you heard someone be quick to condemn others around them in some way, speaking about how overweight they are, how dumb they are, or how foolish?  So why would anyone do this?  What’s the motivation?  What do they get out of it? 

The verse above tells us in pretty clear terms: it’s all motivated by three words or phrases that say pretty much the same thing: selfish ambition, conceit, and counting ourselves more significant than someone else.  It’s a symptom of being self-centered.  It’s a reflection of seeing ourselves as the center of the universe and as the supreme judge of all things.  It’s a temptation to see ourselves as the standard against which everything else should be measured. And it’s, above all, a great sin. 

In Numbers 12 we see an example of this in the account of Moses’ own siblings, Miriam and Aaron, as they spoke against him and determined that they were just as good as he was (and probably better).  It all stemmed from the fact that Moses’ wife was an Ethiopian, and not a Jew.  They looked down on this for some reason (most likely prejudice). They were sure that they would never marry someone like this, therefore they had a basis to raise themselves above Moses in their own minds.  Yes, Moses was a great leader, but they had a special place in God’s heart as well.  And after all, Moses was just their brother.  They thought they knew him inside and out, and in their view, he was no more significant than they were, including in God’s eyes. 

By contrast, we are told that Moses “was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). That means he was very humble.  Though he knew God had chosen him for a very significant task, he didn’t view himself as more important or better than anyone else because of it.  If anything, the meek person views others as more significant than themselves. They are not out to be number one. They aren’t concerned with getting all the attention. Their world doesn’t revolve around them. As such, they have a God-honoring perspective of themselves.  It’s the very perspective of Christ. Of Him we are told “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). And from Jesus own words we hear this: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 KJV).  Here was One Who was constantly lifting others up. Here was one Who could have rightly showed absolutely no patience to anyone, for He was infinitely superior to everyone in His life, yet He was patient with people, even his enemies, as he humbled Himself even to death on a cross. 

So is that how we view others?  Do we count others more significant than ourselves?  If we do, it will be reflected in how we think about them, how we talk to them, and how we talk about them.  Are we listening to all the voices that are telling us to think the best about ourselves, that encourage us to think of ourselves first, and shout to us about how much we deserve, or are we listening to the Word of God that tells us “not to think of (our self) more highly than (we) ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3)?  Are we content to obey God’s command to “Humble (ourselves) before the Lord” so that “He will exalt (us)” (James 4:10) in His time and in His way, or are we all about exalting ourselves and looking down on others, which is a hollow exaltation at best? 

May God help us to resist this ever-present temptation that does nothing more than grieve the Lord Who, incredible as it seems, humbled himself even to death on the cross so that someday we could share in the glory He had before the world began.