What You Need (Friday Devotional)

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

- Philippians 2:4

While we waited for our food at a restaurant a few nights ago, my son Andrew started to get frustrated with his mother. Bored with the wait, he had invited her to play tic-tac-toe on his kids’ menu. He went into the first game with that special confidence reserved for 5-year-olds who’ve just learned a new game, but after a few minutes he was as baffled as he was annoyed. Despite his persistent attempts to get three X’s in a row, the best he could manage was a tie.

After being repeatedly stymied, he finally asked what he was doing wrong, why he couldn’t beat her. Lindsey gently pointed out to him that all his focus was on the offensive part of the game—getting three X’s in a row—and that he was ignoring where she was putting her O’s. “You’re focusing on what you need instead of what I need,” she said.

That’s a trap we all fall into, in areas of life far more consequential than tic-tac-toe. As a fallen creature, your default is to think of your own needs first, to place yourself at the center of every thought, decision, and story. Selfishness is at the root of the sinful human condition.

But having been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from that condition and called to something higher. Instead of looking only to our own interests, we are called in Christ to look to the interests of others, to place the needs of our neighbors even above our own. With Jesus as our example and the Spirit as our guide, we are commanded to give when our greed says to take, to serve when our pride says to control, and to sacrifice when our vanity says to rule.

It is an ever-present temptation to isolate your desires from those of others, to always put yourself first. But just like in tic-tac-toe, you’re not going to win any spiritual victories without looking to the needs of others. In Jesus’ name, see who you can help today.