Daily Devotion

Stepping out of "Me"

 

Philippians 2:3-4

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.(NKJV)

 

Whoo...A tough few weeks makes for a hardened and extra-sensitive me...but I'm making it.  I hope you are blessed.  I had recruiting today at SC State and was very impressed with the turn out of students and their professionality.  Yes this is a tad bit unrelated but it kind of made me think.  In following God's will and "recruiting" others for service to God, we have to look beyond our own problems.  We have to step out of "Marquita-the individual" and into "Christ-the body".  That is hard to do when you have this situation and that trouble, those problems, and daily struggles.  Life does not encourage us to think of others first.  I have had this ongoing battle for many years.  I have always been the kind of person to do for others with little regard for what pain or kind of bind it may put me in.  However, after I got sick, I began to think of Marquita first then everyone else.  And when I evaluate myself, I was never truly happy either way.  I think the solution is not to be wholly one way or another, but have a balance of both.  I got tired of being hurt and feared(see how the devil comes in and makes a situation look bad right?) that if I continued to be that way, people would take advantage.  But in having divine balance, you can recognize when a situation is ordained by God for your intervention.

 

Don't be so wrapped up in yourself that you miss out on an opportunity to be a blessing to someone else but yet don't be so focused on everyone else that you don't give yourself time to reflect.  I think its at those points of truly putting God first that you find a happy medium and a pinnacle of balance.  As the saying goes (loose interpretation of course), when you step out of your problem and into someone else's, God steps into yours and cleans it up!

 

James 3:16

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. (NKJV)

 

Marquita