Don't Be Selfish
Greetings in the Strong Name of Jesus!
Philippians 2:3 & 4 - “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.” NLT
Do you remember playing in the sandbox? I remember one my neighbor had. It was huge, at least in the eyes of a 5 year old. It was big enough to have roads and bridges and trucks of every size. It was big enough to dig holes to China and back. We would play for hours in the sand. We built super highways before there was such a thing. But one thing always happened - what my friend had I wanted and what I had he wanted. Not only did we want what the other one had, but we would always build the biggest bridge and dig the deepest hole trying to outdo one another. Until it got to the point, whatever he built mine was one inch longer, bigger, deeper - and what he had we would begin to fight over. Out came the mothers, into the house went the boys and the next day we would start it all over again. Oh, that life could be that easy again.
Paul evidently saw a similar thing happening with the church folks at Philippi. Somewhere along the way they had fallen into a way of life contrary to the earlier days of the church where they shared everything in common. It seems that some began to hoard things for themselves, even though they already had enough. And then to make matters worse they used what they had to try to impress others with their things.
The best times in the sand box were when we shared everything and worked together to build the biggest bridge or dig the deepest hole to China. We accomplished a lot more when we worked together. Isn’t that the Christ like way? Paul tells us we are not to be selfish and we are certainly not to try to impress others. Jesus never did that and if we are to be like Christ neither should we. Most of us have more than we need. And quite frankly what we have is usually only valuable to us and the world is not so impressed with our stuff.
So why not share with others - that is Christ like. Why not serve one another in humility - that, too is Christ like. Why not look out for others and share the blessings God has given to each of us. Verse five really says it all - “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
You are loved and prayed for,
Pastor Roger
Philippians 2:3 & 4 - “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.” NLT
Do you remember playing in the sandbox? I remember one my neighbor had. It was huge, at least in the eyes of a 5 year old. It was big enough to have roads and bridges and trucks of every size. It was big enough to dig holes to China and back. We would play for hours in the sand. We built super highways before there was such a thing. But one thing always happened - what my friend had I wanted and what I had he wanted. Not only did we want what the other one had, but we would always build the biggest bridge and dig the deepest hole trying to outdo one another. Until it got to the point, whatever he built mine was one inch longer, bigger, deeper - and what he had we would begin to fight over. Out came the mothers, into the house went the boys and the next day we would start it all over again. Oh, that life could be that easy again.
Paul evidently saw a similar thing happening with the church folks at Philippi. Somewhere along the way they had fallen into a way of life contrary to the earlier days of the church where they shared everything in common. It seems that some began to hoard things for themselves, even though they already had enough. And then to make matters worse they used what they had to try to impress others with their things.
The best times in the sand box were when we shared everything and worked together to build the biggest bridge or dig the deepest hole to China. We accomplished a lot more when we worked together. Isn’t that the Christ like way? Paul tells us we are not to be selfish and we are certainly not to try to impress others. Jesus never did that and if we are to be like Christ neither should we. Most of us have more than we need. And quite frankly what we have is usually only valuable to us and the world is not so impressed with our stuff.
So why not share with others - that is Christ like. Why not serve one another in humility - that, too is Christ like. Why not look out for others and share the blessings God has given to each of us. Verse five really says it all - “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
You are loved and prayed for,
Pastor Roger