Who Is the Most Important?

At church on Sunday, I was chatting with some friends when a guy teased that a couple of us weren’t allowed to go to lunch with him and the rest of the college group. We laughed, but wanting to direct the attention to myself, I joked, “What’s wrong with me?” Later as I thought about it, I realized how self-centered it was to draw the focus to myself instead of onto Christ and those around me.

While I don’t have a crush on any of the guys involved in this conversation (just to clarify!), I think this “me-centered” approach is how we tend to view all relationships, and especially boy-girl relationships. When we’re interacting with others, we tend to want eyes and ears to be turned to us, especially if those eyes and ears belong to a guy we like. It’s very easy to try to be very outgoing, act cute, say things to draw attention to ourselves, and sometimes even flirt. But have you ever thought about the fact that you are not the most important? We’re not supposed to try to be the center of attention.

Paul wrote in Philippians, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). He reminds us that the goal of all our interactions is to be humble and to seek to serve others. We can show this humility toward young men through listening to things they are interested in, caring about them in a Christ-like, not lover-like, way, and building them up in Christ - the One who should be their greatest Interest! (And please note that these “interests” have nothing to do with whether or not he’s attracted to you….)

Peter also saw this humility as the most beautiful aspect of a woman’s character when he directed, “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4). In order to exhibit this beauty, a woman doesn’t have to be a shy and quiet person. If so, I would fail completely! Instead, the gentleness and quietness of her heart shines through as she is humble and seeks to build up the young men in her life instead of drawing their focus onto her.

Let’s not boast in ourselves, but in Jesus: “My soul makes its boast in the Lord; 
 let the humble hear and be glad” (Psalm 34:2). Surely, this isn’t an easy task and it’s something that I’m working on in my own life. But with God’s grace working in and through each of us, we can seek to be more like Him by showing humility and remembering that He is the most important!

Learning that life is all about Him,
Christina

Soil Deo Gloria ~ To God Alone Be the Glory!