Read Philippians 2:6–11

Late springtime is the season of yard sales and moving vans. People are on the move and wrestling with what to do with all the accumulated stuff, jammed into garages, shoved into closets, and packed into attics. And how about those storage spaces?

The same can be true of the rest of our lives. We hoard our time, keep our gifts and talents and resources for ourselves, and spend the choicest of our days investing in our possessions and guarding our priorities.

How different from Jesus who...

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6–11)

He resisted any opportunity to preserve self so that He could serve the needs of a sinful world. And He envisioned a body of believers, His church, who would follow Him in that selfless resolve.

Paying attention to the needs of others always pays off. We are happiest when we give ourselves away, rather than hoard everything for ourselves.

Go back to those verses in Philippians 2. Ponder the decision Jesus made. Rather than choosing to “cling to,” He deliberately “gave up.” That’s the ticket, plain and simple.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.