One of the most challenging verses in the Bible is:
“3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others..” – Philippians 2: 3-4
Why is this so challenging? Because we are easily given to selfish ambition and vain conceit. There is something inside us that seems to kick against valuing others and their interests. If we are honest, we probably spend most of our day thinking about ourselves and what we want to do. Don’t believe me? Try this. See if you can identify the last time that you woke up and said to yourself, “You know, (fill in the name) is more important than me. Today I am going to put their interests above my own.”
How did that go? I am guessing, if you were honest, not too well. Even when we do things in service to others, there is still a strong element of us doing what we think we need to do, or should do, and this is more self-driven than other-driven.
The other day though, I listened to an inmate who was striving to put his cellmate’s interests above his own. Why? Because he was a Christian who was taking the Philippians verses above to heart. As best as I can remember, this is what he shared:
“ I know that he has problems sleeping and he has a lot of other problems, so I try to be really quiet in the cell. Sometimes I want to do things around the cell, but I know that it would bother him, so I just go and lay down in bed even though I don’t want to. We really don’t get along and he is a different faith than me, but I figure that this is one way to show him Christ’s love. Sometimes I just listen to him, because I know he needs someone to talk to.”
Can you imagine living in a six-foot by eight-foot cell with another person who you don’t know? They are going to have all of their own preferences. They come with their own struggles, personality quirks, and strong ideas. Sometimes you are around them all day. On top of all this, you sleep in the same cell with them and we all know how many nighttime behaviors and preferences a person may have. Now, in the midst of all this, imagine that your main desire is to show that person Christ’s love, and share the Gospel with them. How would you do it? Would you even want to? The more I listened to the inmate that was in front of me, the more I could tell that sharing Christ’s love with his cellmate was one of his main goals, and that he had thought and prayed long and hard about how to do that. In jail, cellmate relationships are often tolerable at best, and volatile at worst. Yet, this man is allowing Christ to lead the way into peace.
I know that this may sound strange, but I have learned a lot of important lessons from inmates through the years. Some of those lessons have come from what not to do. Others come from how they have tolerated adversity and found a way to make their lives work. In the case of the Christian inmate I have been writing about, he has reminded me that in the midst of any circumstances, we need to strive to share the love of Christ with people, and that doing so does not just happen through words. It is going to take sacrifice. It is going to take prayer. It is going to take humility. It is going to take a Christ-like love.
I have taken some license with Philippians 2: 3-4 below. You can consider it a Corrections-based paraphrase.
“Do nothing towards your cellmate that is selfish or conceited. Rather, in humility, value him more than yourself. Put his interest above your own, and in so doing, you will be like Christ.”
We are not in jail. We are free. We are free to show others Christ’s love.
For Jesus,
Rob