Philippians 2

One of the major themes of the New Testament seems to run in direct contradiction to our society: put others ahead of yourselves. Our country is founded on and values rugged individualism. We take care of ourselves and make our own way through the world. Yet this seems at odds with the example of Christ stepping down from heaven and giving up everything for us, and it seems particularly at odds with Paul's statement to "consider others better than yourselves."

Is our society completely upside down? Or are do we need to dig deeper into this passage? It's probably a little of both. The fact is that for many in our society there is but one focus: me. For those people, life is filled with the selfish ambition and vain conceit that Paul warns against, and while some of them will succeed for a while, most will have to realize that it's a futile effort if you are not building up others.

For the rest of us, we can see that our society, for all of its bluster about rugged individualism, wasn't really founded on the concept of working alone. Thrust into an untamed wilderness, the first settlers had little choice except to work together or starve. Later, as wagons moved westward, the best protection against the elements and animals was working as a team. So, although we talk about working alone, we are really meaning that we are trustworthy and reliable as individuals. We value the concept of being trusted to work alone, but we don't really expect people to work alone, in fact, we expect people to work together.

This is an important concept to understand because ties in with the "first shall be last" concept of Christ Himself. The best way to succeed is to help someone else succeed.