Stand Out

If you grew up in the 1990s like me, life was centered around being the center of attention. If you wanted to be noticed, one had to stand out in the crowd. That your life would be on display with whatever talent and skill you possessed to get the best scholarships and jobs. A cut above the rest is what they used to say. Today we see that being lived out in social media with how many likes we received on that obscure photo of our dinner we made last night. But is that what it is really all about? An endless cycle of influencers and fictional casting of who would play me in the story of my life? Is that how we even want our life to be displayed?
The apostle Paul gives us a different perspective on a life lived… He writes in his letter to the church at Philippi:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:3-11).
What if our life was meant to stand out for something else? Not our own praise. Not our own fame… But to reveal the name of Jesus in the world. That we would have the same mindset as Christ, who humbled himself as a servant to this world for the glory of God. Maverick City Music wrote a song that goes like this: I just wanna move Your heart. It's all I wanna do. I just wanna stand in awe and pour my love on You. No matter how much the cost. I freely give it all. To You, to You. Your love made a way (Move Your Heart).
It is our choice how we live in this world… For fame and fortune for a world that passes away, or to move the heart of the one who gave it all to make a way for us…