Recently I've been really trying to make better choices about the things that I personally do in my life and well the last two messages I've heard have completely just pierced deep into my heart.
The first lesson the God almost literally slapped me in the face with this past week was about Philippians 2:3-8
3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
I could write a book about those five verses, so I'll cut it down a bit. Verse three, right off the bat "do nothing from rivalry or conceit, But in humility count others more significant than yourselves." Coming on strong basically saying "There is no place here for the person doing it for the wrong reason" Which you could be doing without even noticing it. That person that is always trying to one-up you, when you go out of your way just to be able to shut that person up is an easy example of how to be doing it without even noticing. Then we find that verse four is telling us that we are to not worry about what we want, we are to always be all about what everyone else want. That sounds difficult and exhausting to me, but when you actually do it, you realize it isn't so difficult. Personally, the more i focus on others, the better i feel not only as a Christian but as a person. Next we have verses five and six. We are actually told straight out, "act like Jesus did" Jesus was never too good for someone. He had dinner with prostitutes and tax collectors, some of the most despised people of that time. My favorite example that goes with this. Imagine back in high school, walking through the cafeteria with your lunch looking from table to table saying to yourself "i don't want to sit there 'cause I'll have to listen to that guy", or avoiding the table of nerdy kids, or even just always walking past everyone to sit with your friends. What would Jesus do in this same situation? Would it be about who he didn't want to sit with and who to avoid? NO, it would be about who to sit with today, more about who is being avoided and not avoiding them. Making an effort to talk to those who usually sit alone. Who am I to avoid sitting by any person? I am not better then anyone else on this earth. Those who are humble to those around them make the biggest impact. Seven and eight give us a little bit of realism into what Jesus actually did for us. He is God he could have been born a king or a great ruler, yet he didn't. He humbled himself and even washed a mere mans feet. Can you believe that? Our Lord coming with such humility and humbleness to get on his knees and do the work of a servant. We are also shown Christ's obedience, in that he carried out his fathers will no matter what it meant for him, no matter how painful and humiliating of a death that it meant. When asked, I'm sure a lot of Christians will say they'd die for their faith, and I'm sure a lot of them would. But how much pain would you endure in the name of the Lord? How much suffering would you take just because its Gods will for you?
The second of the two messages that really hit me this past week may not have been the focal point of the message but it still had a lot of strength, 1 John 4:20
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
This is almost as self explanatory as a verse can get. How can you claim to love God and be filled with the Holy Spirit and still say you hate a fellow man, even worse a fellow man of Gods?
Really this last week has taught me this. It doesn't matter who I am or who you are. To me, you are better then me, no matter where you or I come from or what has happened between us. I must humble myself to raise others up. The best way to lift something is from underneath it, not from the side, and not pulling it up. Simply to get lower then what ever it is you're picking up.
