We all know what selfishness is. It is the default mode of the human being to be concerned about ourselves—“What’s in it for me? What will I get out of this?”
We are born with a very self-aware, self-centered status. Calvin Miller is often credited with saying, “When a child prays, if you were to strip away all the niceties, it would sound something like this: Our Father who art in heaven, gimme, gimme, gimme.”
But Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” The word “conceit” here means “vain glory,” and I think that is the more literal translation of the Greek. It is having exaggerated ideas of your own importance.
Romans 12:3 tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to “think soberly.” We should make a correct evaluation of who we are.
Lowliness of mind is humility. A humble person who has judged himself correctly, knows who he is based on the grace of God in his life, and doesn’t try to come off as being too important.
Lowliness or humility is what greases the gears of relationship. Instead of thinking you’re always right, and they’re wrong, humility considers others’ needs or preferences over your own.
Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). And the Bible says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Pride makes you God’s enemy. Humility makes you God’s friend.
If I’m always thinking about my interests, and you, only about your interests, we’re going to have conflict. But if we each think about how we can minister to, serve, and encourage each other, we’re off to a great start. “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).
Now, the supreme example of this lowliness of mind is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus lived, and how we ought to live. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (vv. 5-7).
Let’s get practical. Paul said our attitude should be like Jesus, not high minded, conceited, or selfish, but humbly esteeming others better than ourselves. Jesus is God, but He emptied Himself and submitted to the Father. He was willing to pay the ultimate price in submission to the will of the Father. Think like that. Live like that. Have that kind of attitude. That’s how this is applied.
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9-11).
Think about that. Everyone in this world, everyone who has ever lived, will one day stand before God and must admit that Jesus is the Lord. He is the Master. He died on the cross and rose from the dead. He is the Lord indeed.
