«Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself» (Philippians 2:3).
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF SIN? According to James Orr, that essence is basically «exaltation of self against God: at bottom Egoism.»
If the essence of God’s character is love, and if His commandments are summarized in loving Him and others, then we could conclude, without forcing the Scriptures, that the essence of sin is selfishness. Douglas Cooper provides a good illustration of this idea in his book Living God’s Love, through the following story.
Cooper says that a woman was about to give birth when serious complications arose. Her situation was so delicate that it required an emergency surgical procedure. With the greatest care and a very compassionate spirit, the doctor explained to her that the operation would save her life, but that it was too late to save her baby’s life. Then the woman asked for a priest to administer her church’s last rites to the baby. She provided the priest’s telephone number, and the doctor promptly called him. To everyone’s surprise, the man replied that he was very busy, and that he would only be able to go the following day, when he had more time available. He even recommended that, given the urgent circumstances, the doctor himself, or a nurse, could administer the last rites to the baby.
When commenting on the priest’s behavior, Cooper explains that we often tend to limit the concept of sin to the bad things we do—for instance, breaking one of the Ten Commandments—when the concept is actually much broader: To Cooper, sinning is placing our interests first, and the interests of God and others second. It is going on our way . . ., while ignoring God’s way for us.
His words remind us of the words of the apostle James: «To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin» (James 4:17). As well as the apostle Paul’s call to the Philippians when he says that each of us should esteem others as «better than himself.» By doing so, we will be following in the footsteps of Him who «did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross» (Philippians 2:6—8).
Holy Spirit, please dwell in my heart today.Only then will I be able to love like Jesus did, and to serve like He did.