Valuing the Efforts of Others
Philippians 2:3,4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (ESV)
Have you ever been trying your hardest, and yet people don’t seem to appreciate all you’re doing for them? You feel devalued, don’t you? And then, let’s be honest, bitterness tries its darndest to grip our hearts.
A while back, here at Christianityworks we were producing a radio program that was syndicated globally, but which we also specifically tailored for one particular station so that it’d fit better into their on-air format. That took additional time, effort and cost.
And yet, we discovered one day that they hadn’t been airing it for over 18 months … without telling us. You can imagine how that felt. It was deflating – not that they weren’t airing the program anymore, but that they hadn’t thought enough of us to let us know to stop producing their customised version.
Philippians 2:3,4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (ESV)
Now let’s be clear about something. The people at that station were not bad people. To the contrary, they’re fantastic people. So the first part of that passage doesn’t apply to them – at all! But how easy is it in our busyness to overlook someone unintentionally, and in doing so, to send them the message that we don’t value them?
Truth is, that’s probably not the message you and I want to send – and I know that that wasn’t the message that this particular station had intended on sending to us either. But that’s how it felt.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Don’t overlook people.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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