Interests

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Philippians 2:4 ESV

My two-year-old son and I share very few interests. We both adore his dad, and we both like story time, chickens, and snacks. And we like bringing snacks to chickens. But when it comes to his other interests, I usually need to work a bit to feign excitement or even to simply endure what my son wants to talk about or play with (or destroy). My son loves kitchen appliances, a grey checked blanket which he takes everywhere and believes has a personality, destroying stuff, being loud, tools and machines, and (inexplicably) everything related to irrigation (pumps, pipes, valves, faucets, hoses, watering cans, etc.).

Perhaps your kids also adore things that you find strange. And then, isn’t it hard to work up the enthusiasm to get down on their level and share their delight? It is a little difficult for me to pretend to be excited by how gloriously loud our blender is or by the conversation I’m expected to hold with the corner of my son’s beloved blanket. It feels “beneath me” sometimes to bend down and look at a sprinkler head that spins in the most interesting way or to sit on the floor and race pull-back cars. Yet I’m learning that to love my boy fully, I must learn to love the things he loves, because love “does not insist on its own way” (I Corinthians 13:5 ESV).

But learning to be interested in my son’s favorite things is easy compared to the self-sacrifice required to take care of his needs and look after his best interests. We are innately selfish, and we tend towards looking after our own comforts, our own best interests, before those of another person. But motherhood is one of God’s best tools for teaching us to mature out of this selfishness.  I’m finding that motherhood gives me ample opportunities to deny my own pursuits and practice humility. In this way, motherhood is teaching me how to be more like Jesus.

Writing from prison, Paul reminds the Philippians that true love – love that imitates the Author of Love Himself – is self-sacrificial:

“Do nothing out of vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of 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.” (Philippians 2:3-7 NIV)

I don’t think Jesus particularly relished the idea of leaving the glory of Heaven where he was exalted and magnified by countless angels to come to our dirty, sinful world where he would be despised and rejected. But he didn’t choose to do just what he wanted; he chose to humbly serve us and take notice of our needs. How did Jesus look to our needs and serve our best interests?

“He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8 NIV)

Had Jesus looked only to his own interests, we would be lost forever, never having the opportunity to be rescued by his sacrifice. And this is not the first time that God came down to show His love to us. Jesus’s coming to earth is the culmination of the all the times throughout history when God stooped down from His throne to interact with us. (See Genesis 11:5, Exodus 3:7-8, Exodus 19:16-20, Psalm 116:2, and Micah 1:3) God bends down to hear us. He comes down to our level. He condescends to us. Although He is worthy of all glory and praise, He is also the most humble being in history, since He has farther to stoop to come to our level. And yet He does.

Over and over throughout the Scriptures and in our lives, God comes down to meet with us, empties Himself to be one of us, kneels to serve us.

Throughout the day, we as mothers have many opportunities to imitate and represent our Father in this posture of humility:

We kneel down to fasten little Velcro shoes.

We crouch down to be on eye-level with a child as we disciple him in obedience.

We get down on hands and knees under the kitchen table to wipe playdough scraps and baby food splats off the floor.

We bend to gather toys and socks from the floor after the kids have gone to bed.

We stoop to kiss their wounds and make them all better.

We love and serve by bending and kneeling.

              And as we do these things, we practice humility. We practice putting others first. We practice denying our own interests, not grasping onto our pride, and taking up our cross. We practice the posture of Jesus as we kneel to wash our children’s grass-stained feet. So each time you bend down to serve them, remember the way Jesus bent down to save us.

As you bend in service, bow in worship also.

“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 2:9-11 (NIV)