“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4
The best way to show selflessness is through loving others. But when we become tired of doing so, love becomes a ritual or a chore. It becomes a burden. Sometimes, we do love people, but we’re motivated by our selfish ambition of being recognized as someone “Godly.” We often feel that we are more important, lovable, and better people than the rest. We think highly of ourselves that we fail to recognize our faults and the needs of others.
Sometimes it gets overwhelming to love people— don’t do this, don’t do that, do this, and do that. But if you will focus on how God loves you, it will be easier to love others. It only becomes more difficult because our problem is that we have a list of ways on how we will show love. We have a qualification of who to show care for and who to not. We decide up to what certain degree we can only love them. In other words, we qualify people based on how “lovable” they are, based on the goodness they show to us.
See, that’s the thing, we like to be served. We always want to be pleased. We like to be the ones shown love to, regardless of whether we did good or not. When we do something good, we immediately think that we are better and more deserving. We become entitled. But to value others above ourselves is to be considerate. It’s to be sensitive to their feelings, needs, and concerns. We put their highest good before us.
We are naturally born selfish. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot learn and apply humility. Paul didn’t say in the Scripture that it is wrong to look after our own interests, but that we should not only look after ourselves and start considering others as well. Because that’s how Jesus demonstrated His love, He put our own interests above His own, even if it means sacrificing His life. And we are called to do the same. So today and for the rest of your life, always be humble. Stop being selfish and start being selfless.
