Another Take

Philippians 2:3-4 NLT

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Another Take

When people get seriously difficult news from the doctor often friends will encourage them to "get another opinion."  In life we all recognise the value of a "fresh set of eyes." So when someone comes along and offers a new perspective based on some lateral thinking we're inclined to take notice. That's what I think Paul is offering the people of Philippi.

In most cultures of the world things haven't changed much, in fact even in the animal kingdom the tenancy is to look out for number one. It's a "dog eat dog" kind of a world. In fact just yesterday a quite selfless colleague of mine repeated that very motto. "You've got to look out for yourself because no one else is going to do it."

Self promotion is the heart of competition, grades, ranking, management levels, pay scales and dibs on "riding shotgun".

Here in Britain the culture highly values the "no queue jumping" sentiment but it is not humility that protects your position in the queue, its self preservation. We don't want some one at the front to begin letting a long string of late-comers into the queue ahead of them because that will put them all ahead of us.

So Paul's perspective is fresh because it counts on God's justice. The person who subscribes to the point of view found in today's verse-of-the-day can let everyone take his place because they are confident of God's advocacy on thier behalf.

Do you trust God to have your back? Can you prefer others over yourself? Are you willing to humble yourself and prefer others because God will promote you if you need to be promoted.

God will feed you, clothe you, save you, give you a home and a place at his table. Jesus humbled himself and his Father exalted him to position number one. Satan will tempt you to grasp it. Look where that got him. Jesus didn't travel the easy path of queue jumping when Satan tempted him to, instead Jesus trusted his Father's plan.

The way up is down