Php 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

One of the hardest things in life is to "consider others". We are so busy with our schedules and the routines of daily living that we rush through conversations with friends and acquaintances not stopping to consider if they need anything from us. We rarely try to read others body language or moods to see if something is weighing heavily upon them. The word used in this verse is "consider", ponder or think about "others". How often do we "consider others”? We mostly want our voices heard or our opinions to matter and it would probably do us good if we listened more and had sincere empathy for our friends.

Thinking about mans natural tendency toward selfishness makes me really value those friends who really are considerate of my feelings, concerns and desires. These people are jewels. They have trained themselves to listen first, and care about the person. That is a selfless person who has learned to humbly consider others better than themselves.

I don't think I've mastered that one yet. But I'm working on it. No one ever said following Christ would be easy. If pastors would preach more on this verse then I think we Christians would be more influential in our communities. At the very least we would have an abundance of friends. So it stands to reason that if you have many friends then you naturally have more influence.

Our men's group just put on a dinner for our ladies at the church and we did all the work. We wouldn't let them clean up, cook or watch the kids. It was "Lady's Night" it was fun to watch them chit chat, laugh and they even ended the meeting in a circle holding hands and praying. Wow, what an evening. I said to one of the men, "we have a great church." We really are working hard on this "considering other" stuff.

God bless all of you as we endeavor to love others as Christ loved us.

So, go with the King and be a blessing.

Pastor Skipper