Fields United Methodist Church

Thoughts Along the Way

Pastor Tom Joyce

June 8, 2021

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2:3-4

Newton’s third law of motion states, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  St. Paul writes in his “Christ Hymn” found in the Letter to The Philippians chapter 2:1-11 not so much a law of physics but a parallel attribute of human relationships; what we witness is what others tend to witness to back to us. Anger begets anger, hostility begets hostility, selfish ambition begets selfish ambition. Jesus witnessed something dramatically different; grace. He could have lauded over us his Son-ship, but he did not “regard equality with God as something to be exploited.” (Philippians 2:6) What if we witnessed the same grace as Jesus? What if every word that we speak and every action would be for the benefit of others with no other motive than to mirror the mercy, grace, and joy that we have been given by God through Jesus? What if our witness always and everywhere witnessed the simple truth of the love of God for all people? What if we identified all people first and foremost as “children of God” rather than a statistical category?  If we truly witnessed Jesus these “what ifs” would be a reality and we would sing in the words of Louis Armstrong, “what a wonderful world.”  When we put Jesus at the center of our being, we begin to see the world quite different and people as fellow sojourners on this shared journey of life. When Jesus said, “do not worry about your life,” (Matthew 6:25) he reminded us to “consider the lilies.” (Matthew 6:28) Slow down long enough to offer more than a passing glance and truly consider these gifts from God and the beauty they share. So what if we slowed down long enough to consider the wonderful gifts and beauty of those around us, casting our judgment and our interests aside to appreciate the creative majesty of God and the redeeming grace of Jesus offered to all people. “What a wonderful world….”  Thank you Jesus.