PhilippiansSample

Congratulations! You are officially halfway through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, and what an amazing chapter this has been. To summarize, Paul has the church of Philippi to “do nothing from selfish ambition,” but to care about “the interests of others” and be a Christ-like servant.

The question is how do we serve sacrificially like that? How can we be like Jesus, who went from the perfection of Heaven to the humble position of a servant, sacrificing everything in obedience and love? How can we follow the example of Timothy and Epaphroditus, who are ordinary people just like us, and put the interests of others above their own selfish ambition, wants, and desires? That sounds great when we read it, but living it out can be an entirely different story. Is the answer just to serve more and try harder to put others first? Friends, I can promise you from personal experience that doing more and trying harder are two of the key ingredients in the recipe for burnout and exhaustion.

Serving others needs a fuel source, and that fuel is the love of God; a love that is patient, kind, and self-sacrificing. This type of love is God’s default posture towards us. It’s who He is 24/7, 365 days of the year. You are fully known and deeply loved by God just as much on your best days as on the days when you feel completely unworthy of love. That is where real serving begins. As we experience the incredible love of God, it will begin to overflow into our lives. Our natural response to that kind of love is to serve others with this same Christ-like love.

Prayer points:

• God’s love isn’t just something to know in our minds, or read about in the pages of the Bible. It is a love that we can experience. Ask God to experience His love in a deeper way today.
• As we experience this love, our natural response is to serve others. Ask God to help you see opportunities to serve others in the coming days and weeks.