Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” – (C.S Lewis)

Selflessness has always been the hallmark of Christ and a true trait of all who follow Him. To drum home how crucial selflessness is, He preached it severally during His ministry on earth. The most notable one is found in Matthew 20, where He tells us that “whoever desires to be great must first be a servant.”

We know that servanthood requires a great deal of humility. Servants are humble people. So In essence, what Jesus was saying is that whoever desires to be great must think of themselves less. He must be one who is rid of all selfishness and puts the interest of others above his or hers. Washing the feet of his disciples was one of the best demonstration of humility and selflessness.

In our verse for today, Apostle Paul is giving us a call to look out for the interest of others more than ours. He is charging us to think of ourselves less and be selfless in every way possible. First to the church, then to our family and the world at large. While doing this, it is important to rid ourselves off any selfish ambitions and align it with the purpose of God.

A preacher once told a story of his experience with a gentleman while on outreach. On his quest to get the young man to submit to Christ and be born again, he was met with this response, “I cannot follow Christ because He will kill my ambition.” Clearly, the young man knows that following Christ comes with a price, a price he was not willing to pay at that point. Many young people today share the same sentiment with him, for fear of ridding themselves off their personal goals and ambitions, they opt not to follow Christ.

I pray we will all have the strength to rid ourselves off personal ambitions and show true humility and selflessness in our day to day engagements with others and be true bearers of the light to which we have been called, in Jesus name. Amen.