Over the past few years as we have been raising our children, one scripture that has repeatedly found its way into our life is Philippians 2:3. At times it has been a refrain prayed at night, other times a response to conflict between a brother and sister, and even the letters “CO” have found their way onto my sons hand by way of a personal reminder as he walks out the door of our home and into the world.

My children are my most consistent disciples…well, they are kind of stuck with me. But as I act as God’s ambassador to them I believe at the heart of His desire for their transformation, and for any who seek Him, are those two words: “Consider Others” There are days when this reflection is even more so necessary for me as I remember that I am both discipler and yet still disciple. Am I actively seeking the needs of others around me? Am I available? Interruptible?

In his book “When Helping Hurts”, Steve Corbett said, “Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do more harm than good. I sometimes unintentionally reduce poor people to objects that I use to fulfill my own need to accomplish something. I am not okay, and you are not okay. But Jesus can fix us both.” The context of his quote deals specifically with those who are physically poor, but I am reminded that we are all spiritually poor and in need of the same savior. It’s here that when I am tempted to set mission on a shelf till my finances are in order, the kids are grown, or the time is right, that I am reminded of the urgency of the work God calls each of us to. It might not be in a foreign land, it might not be a full time job, but He calls us ALL none the less.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10