To Encourage You

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Do you realize that the Bible is a supernatural book from a supernatural source? The thoughts it contains and the commands it gives are “other” than the natural way we think and act.  You see, although it is a book written by men, every single word it contains was breathed out from the Holy Spirit through them.  In other words, it is “otherworldly” in its source.  It calls us to higher ways than our natural inclinations. It gives us God’s view on things and contrasts them with the views that seem so good and right to us but are so wrong from the perspective of the only Being Who is truly good in every sense of the word (Mark 10:18). 

A prime example of this is given in the passage above.  Listen to the voices around you at this moment in time and take stock of your own thoughts and words as they might be influenced by those voices. Listen to what your mouth has spoken in light of what God has said in these verses and ask yourself, “Do these commands describe me?”  You see, everywhere we turn today we hear and see people making every effort to demonstrate how they are better than someone else.  Perhaps they are racists, so they view themselves as better than others who don’t have the same skin color that they have. Others are proud that they are not racists, and they are on a quest to show those who they deem to be racists how much better they are because of it, yet they are so often blind to their own other sins!  Some are proud that they are Christians, and they seem to make efforts to show how what they believe is so much better than what you believe. In the process they come across to others as thinking they are better than them.  But then we see the opposite as well, as those who are not Christians are quick to denigrate those who are for one reason or another. 

It seems that everywhere we look we see people on a quest to show how others are somehow less significant or worse than they are for one reason or another. At its heart its all an effort to puff ourselves up, and it demonstrates a lack of love, for the supernatural Word of God tells us that “love does not boast,” nor is it “arrogant or rude” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).

So, then, how should we be?  What is God’s way regarding such things?  Well, looking to the words from Philippians 2 above, we are told to “count” others as more significant than ourselves. Other versions of the Bible have translated the Greek word for “count” as “think of,” “esteem,” or “value.”  In other words, God is telling us that when we think about others, one of the ways we should think about them is not how we are better, more significant, or more important than they are, but how they are better, more significant, or more important than us.

But do we ever think like this?  Do such humble thoughts ever enter our minds? Well, if they do, it will be reflected in how we speak about others.  At the very least it will be demonstrated by silence as opposed to haughty and boastful words.  It will be reflected in thoughts of how we might “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) as opposed to trying to shame or anger them and tear them down.  But to actually do this is a supernatural thing that takes supernatural power. Therefore, if we call ourselves followers of Christ, it’s something we should be praying about. If we want such things to characterize our life, we should be asking God to show us where we are missing the mark, we should repent of any such sin when He shows it to us, and we should be asking, seeking, and knocking on the door of heaven in a longing for God to enable us to follow His ways. 

But is that what we really want? Is that something we think about?  You see God has told us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). But the only way we will ever know such things is if we search for them with all our heart by peering deep into God’s supernatural and holy Word.