Looking To The Needs Of Others

In review of Philippians 2:4 it says, “Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

Bottom Line:

Look beyond your own interests and into the interests of others

What this means to me:

I should not just think about my own affairs, but be interested in others and in what they are doing.

One key starting point for happiness is to shift the focus away from myself. If all I think about is myself I only obsess with my wants and desires.  What I'm learning is that to be really happy, I need to care about the needs of those around me.

Paul gives Timothy as an example of this in Philippians 2:20-21: “There is no one like Timothy for having a real interest in you; everyone else seems to be worrying about his own plans and not those of Jesus Christ” (LB).

I would say that most people worrying about their own plans and really aren’t looking out for the interests of others. It’s safe to say most won’t get up in the morning and give their first thought to how someone else is doing. Most are concerned with their own problems and how it affects their lives.

To change this natural tendency requires a change in focus, from self to others. It won’t come naturally, it is something that needs to be learned.

It’s easy to miss the needs of those around if we aren’t paying attention or taking an interest in them. It requires a change in focus in serving God through serving others.

Today’s verse reminds me, “Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand” (Philippians 2:4 MSG).

The message this morning dovetails into another concept God has been speaking to me about in which I need to look and see where he is at work and join him.  Taking the focus off myself and putting it on others will help me see where he is already at work.