Bible League: Living His Word Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.The culture of this day and age often upholds values that are the exact opposite of the values our verse for today advocates. The culture we live in often upholds values that emphasize our own selves rather than others. As a result of this emphasis, selfish ambition can rear its ugly head. The trouble with selfish ambition is that it tends to trample upon the rights and precedence of other people. There's nothing wrong with ambition, but selfish ambition runs roughshod over others. The selfishly ambitious person tries to take the short route to the top by stepping over those above them. They try to exclude and demean people on their own level that they perceive as threats to their rise up the ranks. And they try to block those beneath them from promotion for fear of creating a rival. The motivating factor of the selfishly ambitious person is vain conceit and pride. They cannot imagine that anyone else is more deserving of promotion than they are. They never think of the worth and value of other people. They never think that another person could be more significant than they are. Our verse for today, in contrast, says that we should have the opposite attitude. We should count others more significant than ourselves. Our motivating factor should be humility, not conceit and pride. As Paul goes on to say later in the chapter, our example should be Jesus, ". . . who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:6-7). Humble people do not worry about their own interests, because they know that God has their best interests at heart. They know that when they are ready for promotion God can do it and nothing can prevent it from happening. Here too, Jesus is our example. Since Jesus was more concerned with us than with Himself, God has "highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Today, let humility rule the day. Trust in God, and begin to appreciate the significance of those around you. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingDeuteronomy 5, 6, 7 Deuteronomy 5 -- Covenant in Horeb; Ten Commandments Recounted NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Deuteronomy 6 -- Exhortation to Obedience and Prosperity NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Deuteronomy 7 -- Warnings and Rewards for Driving out Nations NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Mark 12:1-27 Mark 12 -- The Parable of the Tenants; Render to Caesar; Marriage at the Resurrection; Greatest Commandment; Widow's Offering NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion It is good to give thanks to the LORD,to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, Insight During the Thanksgiving holiday, we focus on our blessings and express our gratitude to God for them. But thanks should be on our lips every day. We can never say thank you enough to parents, friends, leaders, and especially to God. Challenge When thanksgiving becomes an integral part of your life, you will find that your attitude toward life will change. You will become more positive, gracious, loving, and humble. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Acts 14:22 We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.God's people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the "Father of the faithful." Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's vessels of honor are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God's children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach "the kingdom," it will more than make amends for the "much tribulation" through which they passed to enter it. Daily Light on the Daily Path Isaiah 38:17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.Micah 7:18,19 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. • He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea. Isaiah 54:7,8 "For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. • "In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer. Jeremiah 31:34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Psalm 32:1,2 A Psalm of David. A Maskil. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! • How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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