Daily Devotional

I’ve had a lot of surprises in life. After growing up on cartoons, I was very surprised to learn that you can’t walk on clouds. After years of drinking V8 with my dad, I was surprised to learn that Tomatoes are technically fruits, which meant V8 was mostly fruit juice not vegetable juice as advertised. After always assuming that deer are ground animals, I was very surprised to one day look out my kitchen window and see several deer on the roof of my garage (true story, I have pictures).

I think some of the biggest surprises in my life have come as a parent. For example, I was surprised to learn that we’re born selfish. When a baby comes into the world, they only think about one thing: themselves. I suppose I always thought that selfishness was learned overtime, but I was clearly wrong. Babies want to be fed on their schedule, changed on their schedule, and they certainly don’t want you sleeping on your schedule. Basically, what I’m saying is selflessness is not a natural human behavior.

True, there are those who are more naturally given to think of others. Just today for example I saw this in my daughter Mikayla. I was playing Mario Kart with my three kids (it was totally their idea). In any such racing video game the goal is to win. Normally all three of my kids are trying to beat each other (they don’t even try to beat dad) but this race was different because all the way through Mikayla was rooting for her little brother. At the end, the only person he beat was Mikayla. At this point she turned to me with a huge smile and whispered, “Dad, I let him win. Look how big his smile is!”

Here in Philippians Paul tells us to not look only to our own interests. Like all of God’s commands, this is for our benefit. If we are always focused on ourselves, we will never be truly happy. It’s when we look to the interests of others that we can find joy and fulfillment.

Truthfully, my daughter Mikayla doesn’t usually score the highest place in Mario Kart. She’s usually about the middle of the pack and oftentimes frustrated by her showing. This time she got dead last and couldn’t stop smiling. Why? Because she was focused on the joy she brought to her little brother rather than seeking her own joy. The beautiful irony is that when she shifted the focus off of herself and onto her brother, she was filled with more joy than she would have been had she only been focused on herself.

God’s commands don’t always make sense, and sometimes following them will cost us dearly. No matter what, we have to believe that God’s commands are truly the best way and even when they don’t make sense, they’re still right. It may not always be easy to serve someone else, but in the long run, it’s far better than serving yourself.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.