Verse 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Wow, that is silly kinds of difficult.
Q: How does considering Jesus’ humility and love encourage you and challenge you personally? What is one area of your life (at work, at home, at school) or one relationship where God is asking you to have a humble, giving attitude?
A: I once read a quote that said “Christianity is the only religion to have its central event the humiliation of its God.” This really put the versus in Philippians in a new context for me. I already knew this, but somehow it made me think “wow” all over again. So Paul tells us to be humble like Christ. Can we even be that humble….how can we as humans humble ourselves in any measure that compares to a God choosing to humble himself by becoming one of his creations, and then suffers and dies. So can we do that? I know I want to try to humble myself like that. Man, it is hard though. Sometimes your so like “Why are you still talking, not only are you not even in my league, you don’t even belong in this ballpark,” I mean, I hate when people try to jump in a conversation like they know what they are talking about, and they have no clue. But God tells us to be humble and to consider that person better then yourself. Even if I think people are rude and conceited, I still have to be humble. Humble like Jesus on the cross while he was being mocked. I think that God wants me to be humble in a lot of ways. One is not to get a big head just because I’m leading a small group. Sometimes it is easy to focus on the fact that I know more about the inner workings of churches then the average person my age who doesn’t have a strong desire to be in full time ministry, and that makes me feel like I’m cool, cuz I know something that other people don’t. Then I remember that I’ve been thankful that I haven’t seen the behind the scenes look at Saddleback and Vineyard, because I hated knowing all that stuff. It just made it hard to figure out who God and Jesus are apart from church politics. Also, I like running things. Lauren does to, she just won’t admit it, but sometimes I need to be more humble in how I speak as a leader, so that I don’t make myself seem distant. I hate pastors that seem unapproachable. I mean, leaders are people to. Gods gift of leadership doesn’t make them better then you, so why can’t you talk to them like you would a person you just met, or a friend if you know them well. So definitely being humble in how I speak as a leader is a big issue, and remaining humble when dealing with problems in the church and it’s authority. No one at the Vineyard cares that I grew up in the Methodist church and I know how it works better then most people, because you know what, the Vineyard isn’t Methodist. And I like that….not knowing what is going on behind the scenes has been a blessing for me in the past. So I have to remain humble that way. Sometimes it is also hard to be humble when listening to other peoples opinions. It is important to acknowledge that you may not be right all the time, and it is also important that you might both be wrong, and I think to truly accept that is humbling yourself.
I have gone on long enough, so goodbye.