“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
– Philippians 2:3
Philippians 2:3 exhorts us to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
This Verse Reminds Us to Fight Selfishness
This verse goes against the grain, I think of everything in me, that is my sinful nature. I am so tempted to do so much from selfish ambition. Even when I’m doing what I think are good things, kinds things, for others, I’m still prone to think, “How is this going to affect the way they view me?” I’ve still got at least some thing of selfish ambition, even when I’m trying to serve others.
This picture of humility is thinking less about yourself and more about the significance of others.
This verse is exhorting us, to do nothing from selfish ambition or consent but in humility count others more significant than yourselves, to be humble before others, to not even be thinking about yourself. That’s the picture of humility here, it’s not even thinking lowly of yourself, it’s just thinking less about yourself. In humility count others more significant than yourselves, think about their significance not your significance.
This verse just beckons me then to pray for God to produce selfless ambition in me. For God to help me to in humility count others more significant than myself. I don’t know if you struggle with this, but just think about your life today and what is driving you and what it would look like to have no even tinge of selfish ambition or conceit but in everything you do in humility to count others more significant than yourself.
Prayer for Grace and Mercy
Oh God, we need You for this to be a reality in our lives. We need Your grace, we need Your mercy, Jesus we need You. We know that’s where the rest of the passage goes on to say, “Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” To have the attitude, the mindset of Christ because we know Lord Jesus that you willingly gave yourself on the cross for our salvation. You chose to humble yourself to be obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So thank You, we praise You for Your example of humility. And we pray that You would work that kind of humility in our lives today, in our minds, in our hearts.
Philippians 2:3 Prayer for Selflessness
God when it comes to our ambition, when it comes to our motivation for the things we do today, help us, we pray to do it in a selfless way, not thinking about ourselves but thinking about the significance of others and ultimately thinking about Your glory, what is good for pointing people to You, not ourselves. God deliver us, we pray daily from selfish ambition and conceit. Help us in humility, today to count others more significant than ourselves. In Jesus’ name, we pray these things, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
