Unity Comes from Valuing Others

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:3–4

Look around you. Where are you encouraged to value others more than yourself? You may have to dig for a while.

You won’t have to dig very far to find encouragement to value yourself. “You matter.” “Know your worth.” “Realize your potential.”

There is something healthy in recognizing the good in how God has made us. Every person should be treated with dignity, heard, and appreciated. But the search for personal value can quickly become . . . . unhealthy when we look for it in praise, success, experiences, or proving ourselves to others. Those things never satisfy for long.

The Word points us somewhere different: “In humility value others above yourselves.”  

That mindset is not just a command. It is the mindset of Jesus. Christ, “being in very nature God,” did not use his position for his own advantage. He did not come to earth to make life comfortable for himself. He came for us. He humbled himself, served us, suffered for us, and went to the cross so that sinners could be forgiven and called children of God.

We don’t have to spend our lives desperately trying to prove our worth. Our value is secure in Christ, who redeemed us with his blood.

That frees us to look outward. Unity in a Christian family or church does not grow from everyone trying to build themselves up. God creates unity as Christ’s grace gives us the humility to value one another.