Philippians 2:3

Philippians 2:3 ^“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (NIV)

Ambition. It’s something we celebrate and admire in the Western world. Someone who has it is thought to be going somewhere in life, and is thus respected and looked up to; and thus looks down on others.

There’s an integral connection between selfish ambition and vain conceit, or in simpler terms: selfishness and pride. Pride, by definition, is to consider yourself superior or more important than others. Selfishness is caring only about yourself and not the needs or interests of others. You might say that selfishness is the outworking of pride.

In this passage, we see more to add to the list of THOU SHALT NOT’s that the Bible is thought to emphasize: don’t be selfish, and don’t be proud.

However, one command to DO sums up two commands of DO NOT: consider others better than yourselves.

We see that it’s more than a two-to-one ratio when we hear Jesus say that the entire law is summed up in this command: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. All the THOU SHALT NOT’s are covered in this two-in-one command to DO, and that one command is to love others.

This command to love is the antithesis of selfishness and pride, and if the entire law can be summed up with a single command in the positive, we realize that all sin can be categorized as proceeding from a negative: selfishness and pride.

When you consider it, you find that all other sins stem from the combination of these two.

If we have an anger issue, isn’t it because we feel that we don’t deserve to have something happen to us? If we get cut off in traffic, or stuck behind someone going slow, we feel that we deserve to be in front of them, or we know what speed is best and they don’t. Selfishness and pride.

If we struggle with lust, isn’t it because we value our pleasure more important than others’ worth as a person? Selfishness and pride.

If we are jealous of something or someone, isn’t it because we feel we deserve to have it, and they don’t? Or we deserve it more because we’re so important? Selfishness and pride.

If we struggle with having devotions, or even finding time to talk to God, isn’t it because we value our time and our interests over God? Selfishness and pride.

But instead we are called to consider others better than ourselves. We are to take the lower position and love our neighbor as ourselves, and love God with everything we have.

It is a complete abandonment of selfishness and pride, and instead it is the outworking of service and humility: to love others and love God.

So any time you begin to struggle with a sin, or even just struggle in a relationship, remember: consider others better than yourself. Christ did the same when he came to earth and died for us; we are to be like Him.

Lord, as we Thy Name profess,
May our hearts Thy love confess;
And in all our praise of Thee
May our lips and lives agree.

-Jamin P. from Shelby N.C.