Daily Devotional

Sometimes the Bible has commands that seem impossible. I don’t consider myself a particularly selfish person (does anyone?) but when I think about doing NOTHING from a self-seeking standpoint, I feel I’m destined to fall short. If we were simply told to “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” we would all likely think this is impossible to accomplish.

Thankfully, the first part of this verse ends in a comma, not a period. God in His goodness knew we needed a little more information than just telling us not to be selfish. The verse goes on to tell us to “count others more significant than yourselves.” THIS is something we can all attain. Right in this verse we are told how we can accomplish what seems impossible.

I don’t know about you, but I can get overwhelmed with the big picture. If you were to ask me what I want to accomplish over the next 5 years, it would take me quite a while to come up with a concise answer, but if you asked me what I wanted to accomplish today, I could tell you exactly what’s on my list. If you really think about it, our lives are made up of individual days, and when we view it that way, it’s much less overwhelming.

Doing “nothing from selfish ambition” may seem like a daunting command, but if we narrow it down to counting the next individual person we interact with as more significant than ourselves, we can live out this principle in a practical way. If we truly consider each person’s needs above our own, we will live lives marked not by selfishness or conceit but by humility. The individual interactions add up to a larger pattern and a way of life.

Don’t get stuck on the big picture, think about the next step. How can you count the next person you interact with as more significant than yourself?

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.