Bible Passage: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:4-7)
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 11:25
There’s something about the relationship between service and happiness that the world seems to understand.
Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, once wrote that, “Happiness springs from doing good and helping others.”
Psychological research seems to confirm this idea.
In a study of 7436 people in China, published in the Depression and Anxiety journal in 2024, researchers found a significant statistical relationship between depression and “helping behaviour,” where greater levels of helping behaviour predicted lower levels of depression.
The researchers suggest that helping behaviour may alleviate depression symptoms because it increases life satisfaction.
Now, as men who are following Jesus, we know that happiness, satisfaction, and joy come from Him. Being with Him, being like Him, and doing what He did, as John Mark Comer would put it.
He is our satisfaction.
Yet, we can only have the love, joy, peace, and other fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23 )—which develop from communion with Him—because the Lord came as a servant to give His life for ours.
We have access to fullness of life only because of what He did on the Cross.
His concern on that Cross was our best interest: reconciliation with the Father.
Paul exhorts us to have this mind of Christ, which, as verse 4 tells us, looks out not only for our own interests, but those of others.
Herein lies the beauty of the Kingdom of God—when we use our lives to serve others, rather than pursuing our own pleasures, we find the life, joy, and peace we long for because we’re living in line with the way that we’re designed by the Lord to live.
Now, that’s not to say that boundaries or taking care of ourselves don’t matter, but that’s a different conversation. Yet, as Solomon writes in Proverbs 11:25, the one who waters will himself be watered.
In other words, when we refresh others, we ourselves will be refreshed.
So, how did Paul find the ability to psychologically survive the darkness of his imprisonment, without ending up in despair?
I suspect that his use of the time to serve the church in Philippi by writing a letter to encourage and instruct them enabled his own personal perseverance.
Somehow, we can find light in our darkness by finding a way to serve someone else in their darkness.
This is the upside-down Kingdom that we live in!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, put on my heart an idea for how I can serve someone in my life, or a burden for someone I can encourage. Give me the grace and strength to step out and serve this person or people, and as I look to their interests, may I find life in living the way that I was designed to. Amen.
Reflection: Who is someone in my life that I can serve in the midst of my struggle? Who can I encourage and support even though I’m not feeling like it? What is one practical thing I can do for the benefit of someone else today?
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