A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Monday, Week 2 - Philippians 2:1-4: A prayerful life with others

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 only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul, writing from prison, has learned that there are some tensions in the church community he founded in Philippi.  There are always some tensions in a church community; in any community filled with a variety of human beings.  Paul has received some form of communication from the Church in Philippi expressing how much they love Paul, are concerned about his imprisonment, and want to help him.  Paul is responding by saying, in essence, if you really care about me and want to give me a gift then give me the gift of joy that will well up in me when I hear about how you are working together, acting with humility, and striving for a common purpose that is beyond your own self interest.  (This is still the best gift a leader can receive.)

In his plea for unity and humility, Paul uses this curious phrase, “In humility regard others as better than yourselves.”  What does that mean?  Is this a call for self-deprecation, for an abandoning of any sort of self confidence: “Woe is me, I am nothing, a lowly worm, with little to offer; everyone else is better, woe, woe, woe”?  No, it is not!

I can remember, as younger man, struggling to understand this phrase.  Then I heard someone explain it this way.  We all are given gifts: insights, experiences, truth, wisdom, knowledge, etc. These are gifts from God meant to be shared.  Everyone has gifts to share!  Yet no one gets all the gifts, therefore we are all, each of us, limited; we are limited witnesses.   When I enter into conversation with others, if I become so captivated by my own set of gifts, what I have seen, and what I have to say, then I will be unable to hear, experience, and receive different gifts which others bring or embody.  The call for humility is not the call to devalue or hide ones own gifts, rather it is a call to grow by listening for the wisdom and truth in others. 

Part of our prayer life happens in private.  Then too, part of our prayer life is intended to be lived out in public.  When Paul writes elsewhere, “Pray without ceasing,” he is meaning that our engagement with the world is to be prayerful.  One way to engage others prayerfully is to consider each person in your work place, school, church, family, etc. as being a gifted person, a limited-witness, whom you could learn something from.  

Gracious God, thank you for the wisdom, the knowledge, the insight, and the experiences with which you have blessed me.  Know, Lord, that I seek to grow and deepen still; and so make me more curious about the insights and experiences of others.  Help me to be a better listener; and when it is time for me to speak, may I do so with boldness and humility, knowing that I have gifts to share, but not all the gifts. Amen.