“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

- Philippians 2:3-11 (NIV)

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Humility’s been on my mind for the last few days. ‘Tis a difficult attitude to have, and a rather painful lifestyle to embrace. Succinctly stated, humility puts flesh on the phrase, “die to self.” It’s a call to obedience, to laying aside my own preferences and desires and realizing that I am completely destitute.

I really don’t want to be humble. I mean, I really don’t want to be humble. After all, being humble means not boasting, not being lazy, not thinking for myself first, and all sorts of things that I like to do. Most of the time the passing pleasures of this world seem just that much more pleasant than the “supposed” glory of the future.

How much more difficult would this life be without the grace that is given to us in Jesus Christ! It’s by His blood that we can be humbled; it’s His example that we desire to imitate. The world mocks this pattern of thinking, because it can’t ever understand why or how we lay down all we care for to obtain a far richer prize. After all, evolutionarily speaking, self-preservation should be our primary instinct. It’s ridiculous to think that overcoming that innate drive would contribute something good to the propagation of our species.

Yet, kindness and caring for others completely counters that pragmatic view of life. After all, if only the strong should survive in order that we might perfect ourselves, we should be caring about other people, particularly those who are suffering – because natural selection should weed out those who cannot survive on their own. But the hope that comes from believing deep down that we all have an intrinsic worth – far more valuable than riches – that’s what truly motivates us to ever consider others before ourselves.

I imagine that a good doctor ought to be humble – that he/she should be doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but considering others better than themselves. This passage indicts my heart, because I know that I pursue my own desires and “do my thing” before I ever want to serve others. But this is the race God has given me, and by the grace of Jesus I want to finish well, that at the end I can say that I ran the race in such a way that I was not disqualified.