Read: Philippians 2:3-6 (GNT)
Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own. The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had: He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.
While Jesus walked the earth, He spent His days demonstrating the love of God, teaching others how they too can be more like their Heavenly Father. It is hard to comprehend how anyone could find fault with that, but we know better. The Pharisees, who claimed to follow God’s commandments, had selfish motives when it came to the change Jesus was bringing to the world – it affected their wallets as well as their power, and had to be stopped. Their pursuit began with Jesus being falsely accused and crucified but didn’t end there. His followers also faced retribution. All because they chose to believe in the one true Messiah.
Like the days of Jesus and His disciples, the fallen world we live in has selfish ambitions when it comes to eliminating the light of God from the earth. But we cannot let our beliefs become selfish motives in our defense of what we know to be true. We simply do not have that authority under God. We are given the opportunity to choose to love others regardless of how they feel about us, the commandment to not judge others, and the authority to continue shining light into this dark world – just like Jesus did.
