Looking Beyond Yourself

Photo by Haneen Krimly on Unsplash

Have you ever had so much need and so much going on in your life that you could not think past yourself and your immediate needs and concerns? Have you ever forgotten yourself out of your concern for another person?

Sometimes we can be so absorbed with our own lives, needs, and anxieties that we cannot see beyond ourselves. Sometimes we are so desperate that we see through or past the people around us as we look for solutions to our own circumstances.

The Apostle Paul instructed believers in how to serve one another, and to see one another, in his letter to the Philippians. Paul wrote, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, ESV).

As followers of Jesus we are not to be self-centered or self-focused. We are to be humble and considerate of others—looking to them as having more significance. We are to see our own interests and concerns—and we are to be able to look past them in order to see the interests and concerns of other people.

Serving God in his mission involves looking beyond ourselves. When we see past ourselves, we can consider others. When we count others more significant than ourselves, then we can see to other people—and not just see through them.

May we see beyond ourselves, as we serve God faithfully on mission for him, and as we “look to the interests of others.”

In Christ alone, Robbie

A Prayer For Mission: “O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men, women, and children everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Photo by Haneen Krimly on Unsplash