Day 18: January 23
Make Room for Sacrifice
READ
Philippians 2:3-4: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
EXAMINE
Verse 3 describes two contrasting attitudes. The first attitude should be discarded from your life, the other developed. The verse begins with the charge to, “... do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit.” The word ‘conceit’ comes from the Greek word kenodoxia. Kenodoxia is the combination of the two Greek words “empty” and “glory”. It refers to those who have an exaggerated perception of their own self. They are all about their personal “glory”, but in reality are “empty” of true spiritual health. This attitude should be destroyed in us all. The attitude to develop is humility – considering others better than yourself. The supreme example is, of course, Christ. He is the opposite of kenodoxia. He has true glory beyond measure, yet He emptied Himself because of his love for us.
APPLY
C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” We live in the era of the sovereign self. That is, in our culture the self is king. We spend so much time and energy analyzing ourselves, pampering ourselves and living for ourselves. Yet the Christian’s calling is to consider other people as more important. This doesn’t mean that we never take care of ourselves. After all, the Bible reminds us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that we must take care of it. But it does mean that when it comes to being a godly spouse, friend, child or fiancé – stop thinking about yourself! Put the interest of others before your own interests! The more you focus on others, the less you’ll focus on yourself.
PRAY
Spend time today asking God for three things: 1. Ask Him to help you think of yourself less. 2. Spend some time praying for other people. Pray for the members of your family by name. Pray for your friends by name. And then pause for 1-2 minutes and see who else the Holy Spirit brings to mind, and then pray for them, too. 3. Ask God to help you see opportunities to sacrifice your own desires for the good of someone else.
