Philippians 2:1-3

2:1 - What is the encouragement you get from Jesus? Seriously...think about it. How does his life...his teaching...his sacrifice bring you encouragement? Do you receive comfort from the love of God? Have you experienced the affection of God? Seen Him move in your life? Received strength from the Lord? Have you seen God at work in your life and in the lives of those around you? I bet you have...I know I have! And if we are Christians who have received any of those blessings from God, then...

2:2 - ...we need to be unified in heart and mind with other believers. We are not all that different. We like to think that nobody else can understand what we are going through. We like to believe that we have it worse than many other people...that others cannot relate to us. And while it is true that no one has ever lived YOUR exact life...all Christians have shared experiences to call on. Every one of us has been delivered by Christ. Every one of us is a sinner and a screw up who has been redeemed. Every one of us is a broken person who is being remade. Christians share an unbreakable bond with one another and we should live like it. The blessings we receive from God should drive us towards unity. The world should know immediately that we are Christians by the way we love one another and by the way we love the world!

2:3 - Why do we do it? Huh? Why? Why do we constantly try to compare ourselves to others? Try to put other people down so we will look better? Try to be acknowledged as the "best?" Try to show how "important" we are? Why do we do these things...why is every interaction with other people a constant internal comparison game where we rank ourselves along with everyone else in the room? We do this because we forget about who we are in God's eyes. We forget about the encouragement that comes from Jesus. We forget about the value we have as uniquely created sons and daughters of God. We do. We forget He loves us. We forget He has a plan for us. And all that forgetfulness leaves this gaping hole of emptiness within us. A black hole that can only be filled by God, yet we endlessly try to fill that emptiness by trying to make ourselves more valuable to the world.