Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4
When Samuel, a fourth grader, walked onto the stage at the end of the school year, I wished for drum roll, cymbals, and fireworks. Though there wasn’t even lukewarm applause as he received his perfect attendance award, his achievement was worthy of a standing ovation.
Samuel is one of seven children who look after themselves nights while their mom works at a chicken factory. He scrounges for clothes to wear and often doesn’t even have a pencil. Schoolwork does not come easy and he is too shy to ask for help. In February, his family moved out of their house after a fire.
For me, getting to school meant my parents, who did not work in a factory all night, woke me. They provided clean clothes and breakfast. If I missed the bus, my dad took me. We were never homeless from a fire.
Samuel humbled me. Every day he competed in the “Olympics” of hurdle-jumping to get to school. Every day—rain, shine … or fire—he made it.
God calls us to humbly look out for the interests of others, I believe, so that we can learn from them how to “make a way out of no way” through Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Prayer: Humble me, Almighty God, so I might look always up to Thee! In Jesus name. Amen.
Response: Whose interests can you look after today?
(Devotions from "Cross of Ashes" by Christine Weerts, a Lenten devotional provided by Lutheran Hour Ministries. Copyright 2005, Int'l LLL. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend.)
Today's Bible Readings: Numbers 20-22 Mark 15:26-47
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