[Membersandfriends] Sunday, October 03, 2004

Sat Oct 2 22:02:55 PDT 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Sunday, October 03, 2004

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PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT
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Philippians 2:1-11 (NRSV)

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
     who, though he was in the form of God,
       did not regard equality with God
       as something to be exploited,
     but emptied himself,
       taking the form of a slave,
       being born in human likeness.
     And being found in human form,
       he humbled himself
       and became obedient to the point of death --
       even death on a cross.

     Therefore God also highly exalted him
       and gave him the name
       that is above every name,
     so that at the name of Jesus
       every knee should bend,
       in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
     and every tongue should confess
       that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
-- Philippians 2:3 (NIV)
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I am a youth minister.  Once on a retreat with 50 students, I heard one of the volunteer leaders rise early in the morning to take a shower.  He turned on the water for a minute, then turned it off.  Later, the sound of running water resumed.  I thought this was strange, so I asked him about it.

He said, "First, I turn on the water.  Then I get in, wash my hair as fast as I can, soap up the washcloth, and turn off the water.  When I'm done with the washcloth, I turn the water back on, rinse quickly, and I'm done."

"Why go to all that trouble?" I asked.

"To save hot water for everyone else," he replied.  This considerate act impressed me.

Faith can affect our actions at every level of our lives.  The Bible encourages us to "do nothing out of selfish ambition," and to "consider others better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3).  My friend's actions reminded me that living this verse is the heart of what it means to follow Christ.  God made him a servant who considered the interests of others, even in the small things.

Prayer:  God, help us today to be like Christ and to consider others in all our acts.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
What is one small thing I can do today in love?

-- Jim Jannotti (Ohio, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Those who work with youth

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.