Helping the Stranded

Sunday December 14, 2014

After Nelson Mandela´s death at the end of 2013, many stories surfaced of his genuine concern for others. In 1950s Apartheid South Africa, Mandela once saw a white woman standing beside her broken car in Johannesburg. Approaching her, he offered help and was able to fix the car.

When the grateful woman offered to pay him, he said, "Oh no, that´s not necessary." "But why else would you, a black man, have done that for me if you didn´t want money?" she asked. "Because you were stranded at the side of the road," he replied. This same man went on to become the first democratically elected president of the country in 1994.

In this season of giving, most of us are more generous and outward-focused than we might ordinarily be. The apostle Paul applauded the church in Philippi from his prison cell and thanked them for their generosity (Philippians 4:15-18), but he also warned them against wrong motives (2:3-4). His words remind us not to be selfish, urge us to be humble, call us to think of others as better than ourselves and require that we be genuinely interested in them and their needs (2:3-4).

The apostle challenged others to have the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ : though He was God, He gave up His divine privileges, took on the humble position of a slave and was born a human being. He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal´s death on a cross. God therefore raised Him to the place of highest honour and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (2:5-11).

He gave His life because we were stranded in sin and death. May we live out His servant heart. - Ruth O'Reilly-Smith

Read
Philippians 2:1-11
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus :
Who, being in very nature God, 
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, 
taking the very nature of a servant, 
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, 
he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Matthew 7:12
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets

Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would have them do to you

Acts 20:35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said : "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Question to Ponder
How can you truly serve others this Christmas Season?
How do humility and serving others fit together?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue