Do Nothing from Selfish Ambition

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3

Mother Teresa once said, “Whenever there is an absence of peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Do you live throughout your day thinking about “belonging to each other”? What would happen if you did? What would happen if you woke up today and literally lived on purpose towards the betterment of someone else? From Phil Jackson at Red Letter Christians

Humility is a Thing of Beauty

Nothing Compares to You

I was having a conversation with a dear friend the other day, he hadn’t been feeling well for some time and we were trying to figure out what might be going on. I asked about diet (healthy eating) and exercise and after some thought he told me that he ate pretty much like every American and was as active as most people he knows. Our talk veered from there but it’s stuck with me since, here’s why:

Comparing ourselves to others is destructive!

Many of us can see the negative effect of comparing ourselves to the extraordinary as it can be very demotivating. (How could I ever be as good…?) But have you ever thought how harmful comparing yourself to the average is, how detrimental being better than most can be? Can settling for “good enough” keep us from being our best selves? I think it’s obvious it can.

Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting becoming perfectionists, there’s always a balance, besides the vast majority of perfectionists only hold others to their standard, rarely themselves. What we’re exploring here is, How can I be the best me, the me God knows I’m capable of becoming? The answer just may start with being able to put comparisons aside.

Health and wellness are good examples for us; couldn’t we all take better care of ourselves? Another area I’m always thinking about is our relationships, both with God and with each other so here are some questions I’m asking:

Am I pursuing a unique deeply loving relationship with God?

Does my knowing the uniqueness of His love for me cause more compassion and understanding for others?

Do I engage in competitive religious activity keeping score in relation to others? (Isn’t this religion in a nut shell?)

If the answers are yes, yes and no, that’s a great start to being real, being who you are made to be and fulfilling the one thing God has asked.

He loves you like He has loved no other! Comparing yourself to anyone else is fruitless. Nothing can compare to you!

> = <

The worst mistake anyone can make is to perceive anyone else as lesser. – Andrew Solomon

Jesus said, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.”

Why is one of Christianity’s most conspicuous characteristics superiority?

Kingdom

Jesus asks us into His Kingdom, not to create our own.

Father Issues

We all have them. I often apologize to our children for whatever their father issues are going to be. None of us are perfect, even Adam and Eve rebelled and they did have the perfect Father. I hope the key to minimizing the pain and damage our children experience because I’m unable to accurately represent the same perfect love their Heavenly Father has for them, is the ability to admit it. To own up to my shortcomings and point them to The One who truly is able to love them in the completely unique and totally fulfilling way their hearts yearn for.

He Digs Us

“Jesus hardly talked to anyone about what He’d done. The Bible never depicts one of those end-of-camp slideshows where Jesus goes over all He had done with His disciples. Instead Jesus modeled that we don’t need to talk about everything we’ve done. It’s like He was saying, what if we were just to do awesome stuff together while we’re here on earth and the fact that only He knew would be enough? If we did that, we wouldn’t get confused about who was really making things happen. Not surprisingly, we’d get a lot more done too, because we wouldn’t care whose looking or taking credit. All that energy would be funneled into awesomeness. Even then, though, don’t take the bait that if we do incredible things Jesus will dig us more. He can’t. He already digs us more. And more than that, our pictures are already in His wallet.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

Black or White

The world is not monochromatic. Seldom in life are the choices we’re confronted with so cut and dried or so easily identified. The good news for us is that ours is the God that places power in weakness, wisdom in simplicity and glory in humility. He is the God who overcomes death with life. With Him there is always more than meets the eye. When we choose to see things as either black or white we miss out on the reds, blues, greens, oranges and all the other colors He’s given us. As we learn to see through His eyes, there is beauty all around.

Humility

Confidence and humility are often thought of as opposites. This is not the case. True confidence, the kind we talked about yesterday, only comes through humility. When we know that we can rely on God we are truly secure. But this means that we have to relinquish relying on ourselves, that’s humility. When it’s all up to me, fear and doubt prevail. When it’s He and I together, peace and assurance reign.

Arrogance

One more thought on the street corner guy. When you stand on the corner berating people that you know absolutely nothing about, all you are communicating is that you think you are better than they are. People like this frustrated Jesus more than anyone.