The Power of Love and Humility by Abbie Shoch

When I was studying the book of Philippians, I stumbled across the passage in chapter two, verse three: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” This verse really pricked my heart and caused me to reflect on my wrong interpretation of being selfless and having humility.

At the time, I thought that serving others meant I would serve them, and then I would see all my hard work with that person come to fruition right away. I thought that I was being so “selfless” because I was putting my opinions aside and serving someone who was going down a dark path.

However, when I didn’t see that person immediately turning from their sin after I “helped” them, or immediately reading their Bible and coming to church, I would think that they were no longer worth my time or effort. How prideful and selfish this was of me to think this way.

What God showed me after reading that verse in Philippians is that serving others and being a faithful friend is not about seeing a result in return. I may never see that person come to Jesus, come to church, or read their Bible, and that’s okay because it isn’t about me. My job is to plant a seed and continue to show them the love of Jesus.

Serving them and being an encouragement for a few weeks, then stopping when I saw no result, was not me being humble or selfless. That was me being full of pride and entitlement and not putting others before myself.

Whether I get to see a result of my work or not is not the point. If I am able to plant even a small seed of faith, then it will be completely worth it. They may not come to know Jesus until years after I die, but it should always be worth my time to serve and love them.