"Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3
I have no idea what got into me.
It must have been the same thing that stirs in us everyday since the first people messed up, namely, it must have been selfish, conceited sin.
It was the summer before my Senior football season in high school. I had received some honors after my Junior season, so I guess I felt like I needed to be a "leader". I was a linebacker on our defense, and Darin was a running back on our practice team offense.
The play began. The ball went to Darin. I tackled Darin. And that's where it should've stopped. But it didn't. I was over Darin, and his head was facing the ground. Suddenly, I had this brilliant idea to literally rub his nose in the dirt. Ya know, the Senior showing the younger player who's boss.
Well, as quickly as I did the literally dirty deed to Darin, Darin said, "C'mon, Chris! You're better than that." It may as well have been God himself telling me I had sinned because I was cut to the heart and moved to apologize immediately. Interestingly, do you want to guess Darin's last name? Yes, his last name was Christian.
Ya see, the reason God counsels us in today's Bible verse to not be conceited, "but in humility count others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3) is because we're not "better" than anybody else.
And yet, we all are lifted to heights of love and esteem because Jesus, the Son of God himself, was not selfish or conceited but in humility counted us better than himself. In fact, you might say that Jesus rubbed his own nose in the dirt by choosing to die for us and being buried in the grave that belonged to us.
And just like Darin Christian had his nose rubbed in the dirt by my misdeed, yet his words from the dirt woke me up, so too Jesus Christ had his nose rubbed in the dirt by our misdeeds, yet his words from the dirt woke us up.
Today, friends, somebody is going to rub your nose in the dirt. Be ready! Be ready not to give them the same, but instead help them remember that they are above doing that because Jesus (and even a young football player named Christian) showed the way.
"Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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