February 12: Humility Doesn’t Keep Score. When You Put Others First, Everyone Comes Out Ahead

Affirmation: I am doing my best and that is enough.

Your best will vary depending on your circumstances, health, relationships, etc. But the thing to remember is that you don’t have to do everything with perfection…do the best you can at the moment.God is right there with you.

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Ponder: Continue memorizing this verse today. Today I am writing this verse in my journal and on a notecard to carry with me.  I am praying this for myself and for you.

”So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.“

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.41.10.NIV

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Praying the Message of Jesus: A Year of Thoughts and Prayers

by Eugene Peterson

                    Feb 12Humility Doesn’t Keep Score. When You Put Others First, Everyone Comes Out Ahead 

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13
One of the things God constantly does is drop people into our path whom we need to help grow. He doesn’t pass us messages; He gives us friends. Sometimes the people we are doing life with are the ones we need to grow the most through and with.

Think about how God could help you to go deeper in your friendships. Think of it as an exercise of worship. Here is the math; God makes you, He makes somebody who ends up in your circle of friends, and then He allows you to grow deeper in that friendship, if you are willing to risk it. Laying open your life can look like a lot of things. You can do it by confessing things to each other you need to confess or by getting real about the things you need to get real with and pointing out where you see Jesus showing up in your life and then your friends’ lives.

Now that we’ve looked at laying open our lives, let’s consider what it means to lay down our lives. John said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” What is something practical you can do for a friend today? In Jesus‘s reverse economy, laying down our lives for a friend sometimes means taking cuts to the back of the line rather than taking cuts to the front. Perhaps it will look like putting somebody else in front of yourself to let them receive the praise and accolades. This isn’t false humility: it’s true humility.
As we grow in our faith, we will see the opportunities both to lay open our lives to our friends and to lay down our lives as we elevate our friends above ourselves. This will help us grow closer to God.

Every selfless act of love is a declaration of faith.

Lay down your life today 

in words and deeds, and 

everyone will know 

what you believe.