(Philippians 2:4) do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Over the past few days, the Lord has been impressing upon me the fact that my attitude and behavior are largely driven by my "feelings" and my interpretation of the facial expressions and tones of voice of those around me.  God has been showing me that this is sin, just like focus on anything else besides Christ is sin.  In fact, in Philipians 2:4, God tells me that I shouldn't even be concerned about my interests or "feelings", but should be looking out for the interests of others.  (Note that the word "merely" does not appear in the original greek--hence the italics.  The word "also" isn't there either, so I put it in italics as well.) 

This passage is huge for us ladies who are so in tune to our "feelings".  Most of us are easily hurt by others who aren't in tune our "feelings".  When we're hurt or if we think someone has been insensitive toward us, we tend to focus on the pain and cease to see or even think about anything else until it is resolved (which can be months for some hurts).  Some of us are good at pretending we're not hurt and are able to move on with others remaining completely unaware of our pain.  Some of us, however, wear our "feelings" on our sleeves and we react in a myriad of ways, expressing the pain we feel.  The key to this Scripture is that we are to be looking out for the feelings of others, not our own!  If people hurt us, so what!  The cross is sufficient!  It is sufficient to forgive their sin against us (if there was one) and is sufficient to give us the power and ability to forgive them--without an apology!  After all, think about how much God has forgiven us on account of the cross!  He forgave us before we "apologized"(repented)!  We "apologize"(repent) only because He has forgiven us!  If not forgiven, we'd never even think to feel grief over our sin against the Lord or to feel sorry for it.

This has been huge for me today as the Lord has impressed upon me to keep a more "crossward" focus (as my pastor so rightly expressed it last night in our prayer service).  My flesh instantly rebels against the notion that my "feelings" don't matter.  But, the more I ponder and chew on this passage, the more freedom it brings.  I'm not bound to make everything right or to sort out every conflict of emotion in every one of my human relationships.  Wow!  I'm not required to explain how "I feel" about anything to anyone and I have freedom to forgive instantly and move on after I "feel" hurt.  Hurt "feelings" can actually be bondage to the soul!  I have been entangled in them for some time and am beginning to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel as the Lord sets me free from self. 

The beautiful thing about this passage in Philipians 2:4 is that IF  Christians all abide by it, then there will be no "hurt feelings" within the family of God.  There may be hurts from those outside the sheepfold, but the sheep won't hurt eachother.  Of course,  all of us fail daily to consider the needs and concerns of others instead of our own.  The world teaches us to put the needs of others above our own, which sounds noble, but isn't biblical.  We're to forget our feelings in order to glorify Christ by focusing on the feelings and needs of our brethren. 

Praise God for the freedom that comes from focus upon and satisfaction in the risen Christ!