Being like Christ is what it means to be a Christian.  The traits of His life should be seen in ours.  One of the characteristics of Christ that cannot be overlooked is His willingness to put others before Himself.  Almost everything we know about Jesus points in that direction.  He was willing to temporarily give up heaven and take on what Paul called a lowly body (Philippians 3:21), be mock, mistreated, and finally crucified for others.  Sacrificing for others is what Jesus spent his earthly life doing.

In Philippians 2, Paul exhorts us to follow in the steps of our Savior.  This begins by having the right motivation for everything that we do.

Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
³  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Religious practices often come from impure motives.  Some were preaching the gospel while Paul was in prison, not because they were interested in saving souls, but because they thought it would add to Paul’s affliction (Philippians 1:15-17).

People sometimes do the right things for the wrong reasons.  This is why we will be judged, not only by what we do, but why we do it.  Our main motivation must be a love for God and man.  Loving God is easy because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), but loving man is more difficult because self sometimes gets in the way.  This is where we need to follow the example of Christ and count others more significant than ourselves.  We must put the needs of others before our own wants.

Philippians 2:4 (ESV)
⁴  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This is exactly what Jesus did for us.  This is why in the next verse Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  No, God does not ask us to completely ignore our own interests, but we must learn to think about others first.  That is the way of Christ.

Thinking about others first leads to active evangelism.  What is the greatest interest that others have?  It is, of course, the salvation of their souls, even if they do not realize it.  We cannot claim to be looking to the interests of others if we ignore their most pressing need by failing to teach them the gospel when we have the opportunity to do so.

Thinking about others first leads to being an active member of the local church.  If we are really interested in brethren, we will strive to be good examples to them.  This is one of the reasons the Hebrews writer said we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:24-25).  When we assemble, we are not only worshiping God, we are both considering and encouraging one another.  That is what you do when you take an interest in others.

Jesus bore our sins by paying the price for them on the cross (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:23; 8:3).  That was the ultimate example of putting the interest of others before oneself.  Are we willing to follow in His steps?

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.