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Philippians 2:3-4, 14-16 – “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others…14 Do all things without complaining or arguments; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding firmly the word of life…” (NASB)

‘Doctor,’ she said, ‘How long will I live if I stay on these machines?’ He answered it would be about six weeks. ‘Take me off,’ she said. ‘I would rather spend the next five or six weeks with Jesus than here in this hospital bed.’ Her husband came to visit and she said to him, ‘I want you to pray with me that I will die at 2:45 A.M. I worry for my night nurse. We have become very close and if I die at the shift change at 2:45 am, then the day nurse will be here with my night nurse to comfort her.’ Twenty-four hours later, at 2:45 A.M., she died (story told by Dennis Kinlaw regarding the most godly woman he knew).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our Lord Jesus Christ could help us live in such a way, that even up to our last breath, we were thinking of others’ best interest ahead of our own? To live this way continually, by the grace Jesus affords, is to look forward to our transition from this life to the next because His inner testimony becomes so clear.

When we trust that Jesus has our best interests in mind, we can get our thoughts more easily off of self and onto those around us. When we are continually communing with Jesus, and asking for His Spirit and His heart, we don’t complain and grumble about service to others, we become the light of the world! Hold firmly to the word of life which is to receive Jesus daily and then go about reflecting Him with rejoicing for what is ahead.

Prayer