Pastor’s Perspective

By Rev.Joshua Knott, Chaplain (Associate Pastor of Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Newark, DE)

Philippians 2:3-4  Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Humility is unnatural.  A quick glance at the world or at our hearts proves it.  This is why the apostle Paul exhorts us to humility and a few verses later points to Jesus as the ultimate example.  Jesus, he tells us, laid aside the privileges of deity to take on humanity in order to be crucified for sinners; those who by nature and choice did not feel like they needed a Savior and did not want a Lord.  This kind of humility is not only unnatural, it is supernatural. This is how the Philippians are called to relate to those around them.  Whatever their title, whatever their position, their privilege is to lay their privileges aside.  Whatever their vocational calling their spiritual calling is to consider those around them, or 'beneath' them, as 'above' them.  This is why we do what we do at Good Neighbors.  This is why we give to Good Neighbors, because we count our low-income neighbors as more significant than ourselves.  And in humility is how we strive to do it, following Jesus' example.