One Purpose

DEVOTION

PHILIPPIANS

ONE PURPOSE

Phil 2:1-4
2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Are these rhetorical questions or a slight hint of sarcasm? I dare to consider that idea, but surely I see something in this word “if”. Would not it be a given that a person united with Christ find encouragement? Would it not also be a solid fact that a person found comfort from his love? And how could it not be one would have fellowship with the Spirit and exhibiting tenderness and compassion from that fellowship? Of course being a believer in the Gospel of Christ has to include all of these conditions, encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion. Thus any teacher, such as Paul, would find great joy in seeing those he has spent time sharing the gospel with being like-minded. Again, if I consider these truths for my own life within the body of Christ and see how each member is filled with those same attributes, then I also would be like-minded with them, and would have the same love including being one in spirit and purpose.

Here again I see the concept of the individual setting aside personal pursuits for the benefit of the others in the body. Being told to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit seems rather straight forward, leading the way to humility. Even my service to others could be motivated by selfish ambition, to be lifted up, spoken well of, and thought of as a person of humility, when in fact the opposite is true. How careful I must be of my own reasons and motivations. The underlying ability to really consider others better then me appears to be the key to true humility. To actually see them as people of great worth, as people who God loves deeply and cares for them the same as he does for me. Then I believe I might be able to set aside my own interests. That is to stop doing something in order to help another, to give up an activity to allow them time for something is one way I see this attribute in action. How guarded I can become of my own time, seizing those moments of solitude or personal time and I may not be willing to sacrifice that for another. Does this verse speak to me or what? I think it is alright for me to consider my own interest, but not at the expense of the interests of others, but are best.