Honor Him This Season In All You Do

by | Dec 7, 2015

Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

What is your real motivation for what you do and say? Are you truly thinking of others or deep down is it more about you? God knows our hearts and He sees what we are really saying and doing.This is obviously very important to Him because Jesus said the second most important commandment was to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is a season to truly take the time and think about others as we give gifts to our families, friends and often total strangers. It is a great time to practice paying it forward and thinking about the needs of others. As you do that though, take a fews moments and ask God to show you any areas you are being selfish with those closest to you to the point that it isn’t healthy. We all have areas that we could be more thoughtful in. This may be a good time to figure out what you can change in the coming year to improve your heart for others needs above your own.

It is easy to get caught up in the “me, me, me” concept of living, it is all around us. ‘Put yourself first’, is the message given out by the world. ‘If it feels good do it.’ Everywhere you turn there’s someone telling you to focus on what is best for you and what you want but do you really feel that is God’s opinion and desire for us? According to this verse, no. Jesus was very selfless, even to the point of His own death. We would have been in serious trouble if His only thought was, “what’s in this for me?”  Take a look at what goes on, on Black Friday!  Seriously that is ridiculous!  Talk about making a mockery of what the season is all about with people fighting over things in stores, people getting trampled and all of the craziness and anger that comes out of that day, I don’t get it!  That is when you know you have lost your focus on what Christmas is all about!

Ask God to fill you today with His love for others to the degree that you realize one day that you have left behind all of those thoughts of, “what’s in it for you?” The more we become like Christ, the more our thoughts will be on Him and less on what we feel we need to fulfill us. God is the only one who can fill all the needs in your life so when you become full of Him all of those selfish desires, addictions and that huge ‘void’ will fade away. Allow Him to make you more like Him today. Truly honor Him this season with all that you do and say!

Quote:
“The end result of kindness is that it draws people to you.” Anita Roddick

2 Comments

  1. Kristen

    Janet, you have such an amazing ability to hit home for me. My question and prayer request, how do we treat others respectfully when they say they are Christians but spew hate towards us? How do we do that? I am struggling so bad with that – I would love for you to write a blog post about loving those that hate us. I know Jesus did that His whole life, but I struggle. Thanks for your words of wisdom and encouragement.

    • admin

      I hope today’s devo helped a little Kristin. It really isn’t easy to do, we can’t do it without His help. Most of us naturally want to react out of hurt and anger instead of responding with His love that is why we just have to rely on Him to help us.