Devotionals for the Heart: Perspective

Looking to the Interests of Others
A devotional by Aubrey Taylor

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

—Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

A new year has begun! A time when we re-evaluate our priorities and set goals which we hope will carry us through the next 12 months, making us better people than we were last year.

One of the goals I have prayerfully chosen for my family is to make a concerted effort to look more to the interests and needs of others, and not simply our own. I would love to say that our family has plans to get involved in service projects or go out and help the needy, but I’m afraid that the greater challenge is to learn to serve those within our own household.

Without singling him out, I will share the example I shared recently with my eldest son: I know that he would much rather be bent over his desk working on his model cars than putting away the dishes, but does he realize that this chore not only helps me, but helps the whole family? When he gets his work done, I can get my tasks done more quickly and efficiently—tasks such as cooking everyone’s dinner or packing everyone’s lunches. Furthermore, I can then sit down with the rest of the family and watch a movie, rather than doing dishes while they enjoy time together.

I know that it is especially difficult for children to see from a perspective other than their own, but I wonder how often I myself focus on my own desires and perceived needs. Because I struggle with chronic illness, it can be easy to use that as an excuse to avoid getting down on the floor and playing with my six year old. It would be much easier to sit in the chair, sip my tea and watch him play, but I’m starting to think that this year I need to search my heart and ask myself if it would really be that difficult to get down on the floor and make a little boy happy for just a couple of minutes.

To take this train of thought a little further, my husband and I recently prayed over the word complacent. Merriam-Webster online defines it this way: “marked by self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.” When we are complacent, we believe things will never change, and we believe we don’t need to. Yet the world around us is constantly changing, and God wants us to be growing continually into people who are ready to face whatever lies ahead. This is not a time to focus on our own interests, it is a time to be aware of what He’s doing, ready to stand in His strength and proclaim His goodness to a world that is increasingly desperate.

Has God shown you something to focus on in the year ahead? Something you can improve in order to make you a little bit more like Jesus?

Let’s Pray: Dear Jesus, I pray that You will help me to see where I have been looking too much too my own interests, and perhaps even closed my heart off to the needs of others, as well as to what You might want to do in my life. Search my heart and show me if I have become complacent. This year, help me to be open and ready to do Your work, to become more like You, as well as the person You want me to be. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Just Like You Jesus” by CeCe Winans. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

The only child of a single parent, Aubrey Taylor filled her younger years by creating characters and writing stories. This ended around age sixteen when music, friends and part-time jobs began to fill her time. After that came college, work, marriage, and children.

It wasn’t until the world was beginning to come out of the COVID pandemic that God led her back to her love for writing, coupled with a passion she’d always had for history. It was time to start a new adventure!

Along with writing devotionals, Aubrey is the author of the German-perspective 20th Century Fiction series, Gott Mit Uns. She lives in Upstate New York with her husband and three children. When she’s not writing or taking care of her home and family, she enjoys singing and dancing with friends from a German choir and a Bavarian folk dancing group. She is also a lover of Jesus Christ, The Holy Bible, history, German culture, tea, and cats!

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Connect with Aubrey:
Website: https://www.aubreytaylorbooks.com
Blog: https://www.aubreytaylorbooks.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aubreytaylorbooks/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aubtaybooks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aubreytaylorbooks/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21846520.Aubrey_Taylor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/aubrey-taylor
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aubrey-Taylor/author/B0973KWXV8