A word from God to me

We are in Ohio this week (that’s right, OH–IO), working on developing partnerships for France and visiting family and friends. We visited three church services this weekend and were very encouraged by the music and preaching we heard and the people we met. Each gathering of believers was pretty different in look, feel and size but the message communicated and commitment to Christ demonstrated was consistent from place to place. I would like to share a bit about the different churches, because by the end of our trip we will have had the pleasure of visiting 6 or more, but I will save that for another post. For now, I want to share what God has been putting on my heart this week.

When God wants to teach me something He often does so by putting the message right in front of me over and over again, which is proof that He really knows me because if He only put it in front of me once or twice I would either miss it or assume a mere coincidence. The passage He keeps bringing to me over and over and over, through personal study with my friend Brittany, 2 services this weekend and a conversation with my mentor this morning, is Philippians 2:1–4…

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

The section title for this in my bible is “imitating Christ’s humility” and it can be a really challenging lesson. Truthfully, seeing this kind of unity and selflessness in action is rare. But I am encouraged when I read right after this part in Philippians and it shows the literal example of Christ doing this, and then the results. After Christ humbled Himself completely, making himself nothing and taking on the very nature of a servant and THEN being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross… after all that this is what happens in Phil 2:9–11.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

I think God is trying to show me that I need to humble myself more. I need to love and serve others more selflessly. And then my prayer is that through that, God will be exalted and glorified and the person and persons I love and serve will be one step closer to acknowledging and living in a way that displays that Jesus is their Lord too. One tangible way to do so, as encouraged by my mentor, is to not enter into interactions with people this week with my agenda as the main thing, but rather to start every interaction by seeking to encourage and love the people we meet. This was a wonderful reminder, because we are here to develop partners, which is important, but above that we are called to love the people God puts in our path. Please pray that Ryan and I would be putting others above ourselves this week, to the glory and praise of our Lord and King.