³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Phil 2:3-4

Let’s be honest, in life there are three people who need to be taken care of the most. You guessed it – me, myself and I. Problem is, none of us go around yelling “I’m selfish! I’m selfish!” Of course we don’t think we are. Most of us think we’re the most selfless person there ever was. In fact, we’re so humble we’re proud of it. But I hope that Paul’s challenge will draw you to examine yourself and to ask God to help you have the Christ-kind of humility (we’ll take a look at his perfect example tomorrow). Paul is calling us to check our hearts to see if we do what we do out of selfish ambition.

The call here is to not look at our own interests, to not prioritise them above those of others, but actually the other way round and, as older versions of the NIV would say, to consider others better than yourself. This has a bearing on how you spend your time and your money, how desperately you would like your opinion heard and your ideas implemented. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. If you’re anything like me, you can always see things clearer than anyone else and actually if only they would just listen to you, you have the answers to all the world’s problems.

Eish, God help us! Pray my friend, pray, and ask God to rid you of that cancer called pride and his best friend arrogance. We need his help.

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