³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3 CSB)

“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

It is widely accepted that Solomon wrote both of these scripture lines. The latter speaks to the filter through which we view much of our lives. We are so inwardly focused that everything must serve the vanity that is our human weakness.

It may seem that I am lumping our every act into a singular category of self gratification. But if we are honest, for the most part, this is the exact underlying motive behind much of what we do. It is how the world wires us.

Thus, to truly embrace the former scripture, we must take a completely different view of the world around us. We must view it from a humble state of service. To become first we must first become last.

I strive very hard to view myself humbly, but I realize just how much I do that is out of vain self-centeredness. If I am honest, even my humble acts have some underlying need for self-actualization. Maybe I am being too hard on myself. However, I think to make progress toward not allowing selfish ambition to drive our every action we must view every action through our motives.

We must make a point to look within to our underlying desires so that we can start to consider others as more important than ourselves.