How Can I Help?

Read It:  Philippians 2:3-5 (NRSV)

 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus..."

Learn It:

That is hard!  I remember playing sports when I was a teenager and I know I constantly regarded (thought of) myself as better than other people on my own team and better than players on other teams.  I wasn't so good, however, that I thought I was better than everyone else.  This passage from the letter to the Philippians teaches us some valuable lessons.  So often in sports, in school, in work we are taught to compete and be better than everyone else so that we can get ahead in the world.  I'm sure it was similar when Jesus was around too.  You have to be good at what you do to make a living, but I think the point trying to be made here is to realize that we cannot think of ourselves always above others or we will be selfish all the time.  The more we think about ourselves the less time we have to pay attention to others.  If we have the same mind as Christ Jesus then we would pay attention to the needs of those around us as he did and realize that the skills and talents we have may be used to better ourselves but they might be able to do a lot more to help others too.

Share It:

Where are the places and times when you feel most competitive or feel that you really do need to be better than others?  Do you notice at those times or in those situations that your benefit might or does come at the expense of others?  In what ways can you look at the interests of other people so that you aren't always focused on how things might benefit you?  How might humbling yourself by helping others might exalt you in the sight of God?  Share these thoughts and others that might come up as you talk with your family.

Live It:

As you go through this week take a look around you and try setting your goal or agenda aside and helping someone who might be struggling with theirs.  See how it makes you and the person you helped feel.  See how helping out people for the good of the community might be better than working for you own gains.  

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Please post comments with your experience with the share it or live it part of this weeks post.  Let others know if you and your family found this useful.

Intended to Be

Read It: Romans 8:18-25 (NRSV)

¹⁸I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Learn It:

I wonder if when we look at creation we see it waiting to burst with joy.  When we look at the beauty of what God has created can we see the goodness that is in it and see what it is all mean to be?  This feeling that creation has and even we have in ourselves is the Spirit working in and through us.  Paul tells us that all of creation and even our bodies are eager to return to the closeness of God that we once shared long ago.  Basically we are waiting for the day, whether we know it or not, when all of creation can return to the way it was before the fall.  In all the waiting that we do consciously or unconsciously we live with hope.  Hope is what keeps us going from day to day knowing that we have been saved and knowing that there will be a day when all it comes to happen.

Share It:

Are there things that you notice from day to day or every so often that make you realize just how much life is bursting out all around us?  What are those things you notice and would you say that is life finding a way to go back to the way God intended it to be?  Why or why not?  In what ways does your life reflect a way that is eager for creation to return to the way it should be?  If the world were to return that way what do you suppose it would look like, sound like, feel like, be like?  If creation were as it should be describe how you would imagine it being.

Live It:

Take this week to enjoy creation and see the ways that it bursts with life.  It may not be perfect but life always seems to find a way to show itself even in the darkest of times.  Find those times of joy and light...of hope and share them with someone so that they too can see the joy of creation reaching its potential and its intended purpose.  

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Please post comments with your experience with the share it or live it part of this weeks post.  Let others know if you and your family found this useful.