Here's another morning Bible discussion designed for kiddos. Praying you have a blessed day. :)
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourselves.” --Philippians 2:3
What is selfish ambition?
Having ambition means wanting something and being ready to work hard to get it. Having ambition isn’t always a bad thing. It can help you reach a goal. It’s when it becomes selfish that it becomes a sin. Being selfish means you care about yourself more than anyone else. If you have selfish ambition, that means you want to get your own way, even if it hurts other people. You might say things like, “Move out of my way!”
What is vain conceit?
If we act vain, it means that we worry too much about what other people think of us. It means we want others to think we are talented and good-looking, and we might feel pretty upset if they don’t. Being conceited means thinking we are amazing in every way. Everyone has their faults, but if we’re conceited, we have a hard time seeing our faults.
Remember the evil queen in the story of Snow White?
Now there’s somebody full of selfish ambition and vain conceit! She wanted to be the most beautiful in all the land, and worried so much about others thinking she was beautiful that she was willing to kill! She only cared about herself and getting what she wanted, and she did some pretty terrible things in order to be seen as the best. Her attitude was so dangerous that it made her downright evil!
This verse warns us that having the same attitude is also dangerous for us. We might not be polishing a poisoned apple for anyone, but we still might be hurting others by:
- Insisting that our way is better
- Not letting others go first
- Being unwilling to share with others
- Spending so much time thinking about ourselves that we don’t notice that others need help
...and worst of all,
- Focusing on ourselves so much that people don’t want to hear about Jesus because they don’t want to be anything like us!
What’s the answer? How can we avoid having this awful attitude?
The last part of the verse gives us a clue: “...but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” IS everyone else better than you are? Is that what God thinks? Hmmm. That’s not the right question. The truth is, it doesn’t really matter. God simply asks us to consider others better than ourselves. That means treat them better and love them more than we do ourselves. That’s a sure way to keep us from becoming evil villains full of selfish ambition and vain conceit!
No comments:
Post a Comment