Dear Ami,

Philippians 2:3 tells us to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Is the latter part of this really healthy? If you avoid looking at or considering your own value, aren’t you undermining your own emotional health?

Signed Confidently Humble

Dear Confidently Humble,

That is such a great question! The idea of counting others as more significant than ourselves seems so counterintuitive to a culture that is really trying to improve in the areas of self-bullying, self-care and self-talk.

And you are right, it is important for our emotional health to care for ourselves. I would also say it is wrong, as a creation of God, to berate yourself and not appreciate the amazing workmanship He used as He fashioned you to be who you are (Ephesians 2:10).

You are a one-of-a-kind design, made by a loving heavenly Father who took individual and specific care as He formed you in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139). To not appreciate the Father’s handiwork in the formation of us—mind, body, personality and giftings—is to tell the God of the Universe that His craftsmanship is mediocre, and He really should have done better. Our humility should come from knowing that we are all mere created beings, not from berating ourselves into feeling less special than those around us.

I think that is why this verse causes so much confusion! What is Paul saying here?

As is always true, context is critically important when evaluating Scripture. In this amazing passage of Scripture, Paul is moving from encouraging unity among believers and is about to expound on the wondrous humility of Jesus Christ as He gave up what was rightfully His as God to serve and die for the very creatures He created.

I received this question that I answered in my monthly, “Ponderings of the Heart” column: Dear Ami, Phil. 2:3 tells us to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Is the latter part of this healthy? If you avoid looking at or considering your own value, aren’t you undermining your own emotional health? Signed, Confidently Humble

So, this whole passage is all about imitating Jesus and being in a unified relationship with believers. Considering this, let’s look at this verse again.

Paul is speaking specifically about how we interact in public with others. We should be treating others well and as highly favored, not with an ambition or conceit that is always trying to maneuver to the front of the line, the best position in social situations, the most advantageous places to be seen and heard and recognized.

When it says we should count others more significant than ourselves, it goes along with what Jesus said in Luke 14 about not taking the seat of honor until it is offered to you.

It is also important to understand the wider context of the honor culture of the time. That honor culture encouraged people to rank themselves and others in ways we would find quite surprising. They would use these evaluations of themselves and others to know where to sit at banquets, where to sit in a synagogue or church setting, when or if they ranked high enough to speak. We may think this appalling, but many people today nicely tuck these same belief systems away in their minds and act them out without ever saying them publicly.

It is really a heart issue. If we have a ranking system in our hearts, it’s just as bad as the outward and more public system they had in Jesus’ time.

Are you worried you’ll be short-changed if you don’t constantly speak up for yourself and maneuver your way to the front? Let me reassure you, we can treat others better than ourselves and trust the Lord to pay it back to us somehow, even if it’s just privately between us and the Lord.

Paul is not telling you not to acknowledge your own value; he is telling us to do away with our competitive comparisons, to humbly celebrate others and to let the Lord take care of our needs.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

Make sure you send in your questions to be answered here! All questions will be presented confidentially. Email me at amiloper@gmail.com

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