Humility To Action
Phil.2:1-5 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
It has been said, “Pride is the first thing to come and the last to go.” It stands against everything holy (pure) and righteous (right standing with God). Pride’s synonym is the single letter “I”.
Humility is a posture of a person’s heart and mind. Pride is at the foundation of hurtful and destructive factions both small and great. Facing our own pride may be the single most difficult thing to do while following Christ because following Christ means to deny yourself, your flesh and its desires. Desires that satisfy only one, us!
The context of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians is suffering and the need for true fellowship with each other in the reality of it. The suffering he is referring to in this book is primarily because of his preaching the word of God and imprisonment that resulted. Paul’s attitude in his suffering modeled the very message he was teaching regarding community and the essential attitudes of those in that community. He was teaching them that there can be no community without unity. Unity among believers opens the door for God’s presence and activity, Ps.133:1-3. Disunity does exactly the opposite in a community by opening the door to Satan’s destructive interference. Paul is saying in these verses: do the right thing that will bring God’s blessings, honor and value to one another.
If there is inward affection and mercy, “be like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” This requires a paradigm shift from the focus on self to being others focused. Don’t be selfish minded but “rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others.”
Humility means to live with a lowly mindset. To stop thinking so much about yourself and think about others instead and what may benefit them. The word value in the Greek means to “lead out in treating others with superiority.” We cannot do that if we are focused on ourselves. In fact, we can’t see others properly if we are focused only on us.
One cannot practice this kind of valuing unless they have and are experiencing being valued. We cannot give away what we do not possess. This is true regarding our relationship with our heavenly Father or in natural parental relationships.
A large percentage of humanity carries parental wounds of some kind. We all are born of broken people. There is only one perfect parent, God himself. While it is important to work on parental relationships, the most important relationship to address is our spiritual relationship with God our Father. He can and will repair what has been broken in natural relationships if we will pursue our relationship with him. Healing comes from knowing and understanding his value of you and me. Pure value not tainted by man’s sin.
In a vision I had many years ago while speaking to a first nations group of leaders, I saw a man standing before the group holding a very large poster resembling a price tag used sometimes in furniture sales. Large hand-written numbers were on the tag displayed as the dollar amount he was worth. While he was holding this price tag, a hand from heaven reached down with a black marker and drew diagonal lines through the number value crossing it out. Then rewrote numbers that were exponentially larger than the ones crossed out. God was making it clear that how he viewed himself was minuscule compared to how He viewed him.
From that moment on, I knew that what I communicated to them that day needed to be about their value as men and as leaders and not what I had planned on sharing.
The chances are that there are people in your life who need to repeatedly hear from you how you value them, how you esteem them higher than yourself. It cannot only be expressed in words, but it is verified by your action. This is the evidence of God’s kind of love.
You can change someone’s life by honoring, valuing, and esteeming who they are. This is not flattery, it is affirmation. It speaks of WHO someone is, their intrinsic value rather than what they may do extrinsically. God hates flattery and so should you because it is not authentic. The value spoken of here models God’s love - the kind of love that transforms peoples lives.
“In humility, value others above yourselves.”
You are loved!
It has been said, “Pride is the first thing to come and the last to go.” It stands against everything holy (pure) and righteous (right standing with God). Pride’s synonym is the single letter “I”.
Humility is a posture of a person’s heart and mind. Pride is at the foundation of hurtful and destructive factions both small and great. Facing our own pride may be the single most difficult thing to do while following Christ because following Christ means to deny yourself, your flesh and its desires. Desires that satisfy only one, us!
The context of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians is suffering and the need for true fellowship with each other in the reality of it. The suffering he is referring to in this book is primarily because of his preaching the word of God and imprisonment that resulted. Paul’s attitude in his suffering modeled the very message he was teaching regarding community and the essential attitudes of those in that community. He was teaching them that there can be no community without unity. Unity among believers opens the door for God’s presence and activity, Ps.133:1-3. Disunity does exactly the opposite in a community by opening the door to Satan’s destructive interference. Paul is saying in these verses: do the right thing that will bring God’s blessings, honor and value to one another.
If there is inward affection and mercy, “be like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” This requires a paradigm shift from the focus on self to being others focused. Don’t be selfish minded but “rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others.”
Humility means to live with a lowly mindset. To stop thinking so much about yourself and think about others instead and what may benefit them. The word value in the Greek means to “lead out in treating others with superiority.” We cannot do that if we are focused on ourselves. In fact, we can’t see others properly if we are focused only on us.
One cannot practice this kind of valuing unless they have and are experiencing being valued. We cannot give away what we do not possess. This is true regarding our relationship with our heavenly Father or in natural parental relationships.
A large percentage of humanity carries parental wounds of some kind. We all are born of broken people. There is only one perfect parent, God himself. While it is important to work on parental relationships, the most important relationship to address is our spiritual relationship with God our Father. He can and will repair what has been broken in natural relationships if we will pursue our relationship with him. Healing comes from knowing and understanding his value of you and me. Pure value not tainted by man’s sin.
In a vision I had many years ago while speaking to a first nations group of leaders, I saw a man standing before the group holding a very large poster resembling a price tag used sometimes in furniture sales. Large hand-written numbers were on the tag displayed as the dollar amount he was worth. While he was holding this price tag, a hand from heaven reached down with a black marker and drew diagonal lines through the number value crossing it out. Then rewrote numbers that were exponentially larger than the ones crossed out. God was making it clear that how he viewed himself was minuscule compared to how He viewed him.
From that moment on, I knew that what I communicated to them that day needed to be about their value as men and as leaders and not what I had planned on sharing.
The chances are that there are people in your life who need to repeatedly hear from you how you value them, how you esteem them higher than yourself. It cannot only be expressed in words, but it is verified by your action. This is the evidence of God’s kind of love.
You can change someone’s life by honoring, valuing, and esteeming who they are. This is not flattery, it is affirmation. It speaks of WHO someone is, their intrinsic value rather than what they may do extrinsically. God hates flattery and so should you because it is not authentic. The value spoken of here models God’s love - the kind of love that transforms peoples lives.
“In humility, value others above yourselves.”
You are loved!
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