Lately I find myself filled with much gratitude and thankfulness for the work that God has done in our life (Ryan and I), allowing us unique opportunities to share His love with others and experiencing the many blessings of rich friendships and relationships that He has lavished upon us. In my moments of reflection I think I am most thankful for the amazing people that God has allowed me to know at different stages of my life, and I am encouraged and rejoice over the work that I see Him doing in their lives and how He is growing them in new life stages, ministries, vocations, etc.
One person that God has used to influence and mentor my life is my high school youth pastor, Jol, and his wife, Sherri. Shortly before I moved to college Jol gave me and a few of my friends each an old business card of his that had a Scripture verse tapped to the back of it... he had used the cards to help him memorize God's word and he hopped they would be a blessing for us. Jol is a man of purpose, so I have to believe that it is no cosidence that my card read,
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conciet, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3
The passage in Philippians 2 goes on to say "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men." The Greek word for 'attitude' in this passage is the word 'phroneo,' which means to be mentally decided. God used Jol and the old business card with Scripture to transform my heart and mind to be mentally decided to serve others.
I have been confronted with this truth in quiet moments the past couple of days. Am I currently living my life mentally decided to serve others, or am I mentally decided about serving myself and my own needs and desires?
One person that God has used to influence and mentor my life is my high school youth pastor, Jol, and his wife, Sherri. Shortly before I moved to college Jol gave me and a few of my friends each an old business card of his that had a Scripture verse tapped to the back of it... he had used the cards to help him memorize God's word and he hopped they would be a blessing for us. Jol is a man of purpose, so I have to believe that it is no cosidence that my card read,
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conciet, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3
The passage in Philippians 2 goes on to say "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men." The Greek word for 'attitude' in this passage is the word 'phroneo,' which means to be mentally decided. God used Jol and the old business card with Scripture to transform my heart and mind to be mentally decided to serve others.
I have been confronted with this truth in quiet moments the past couple of days. Am I currently living my life mentally decided to serve others, or am I mentally decided about serving myself and my own needs and desires?
2 comments:
Amen sister. "Mentally deciding" rarely happens on purpose in our culture. We are trained to wait on the best possible offer before we commit to anything and that includes deciding beforehand that we will serve. Because of this many people end up serving for the wrong reasons, but I digress. Good post
Wow, great things to think about. Thanks for your honesty, Kim. Hope y'all are doing well! Y'all still enjoying your new church?
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