“Unity is impossible if each person is out for themselves. . . . We are called to do our part to maintain peace in our relationships (Romans 12:18). However, sometimes — many times — people don’t do their part. We are left to decide how we will respond to the bad behavior of others.”- Randy Frazee
“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 others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 2:3-5 (NIV)
In Principle #7: Elevate Others Above Yourself of The Joy Challenge, Randy Frazee offers the apostle Paul’s counsel on how to respond to the bad behavior of others. Paul taught two things to stop doing and one thing to keep on doing.
For the first Don’t, Paul referred to the type of ambition that pulls others down. In other words, a selfish ambition. Certainly, Randy quips, not a way to win friends and influence people.
However, vain conceit consists of two Greek words (keno + doxia), meaning empty opinion. Therefore, vain conceit describes someone who believes they’re right about every subject. When, in fact, that’s hardly the case. Above all, this illusion blinds the person in regard to how they present to others. Hence, Randy adds, one of the wisest words you’ll hear from someone is, “I don’t know. What do you think?
Finally, the second Don’t counsels us to look to the interests of others. Instead of looking to your own interests. Consequently, Paul admonishes us against a self-centered stance. Rather, he calls us to proactively keep an eye out to discover the interests of others. Thus, we lay down our right to be right or to get our way in all situations.
But, Paul exhorts us to, in humility value others above ourselves. As C. S. Lewis puts it in Mere Christianity, a really humble man “will not be thinking about humility; he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses temper your negative response to the bad behavior of others? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “High God esteem = humility”
