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Bible Verse: “Value others more than yourselves. ” – Philippians 2:3b (NIrV)

If you have a brother or sister, you know how important the word first can be.  After all, siblings can be really competitive.  Maybe you’ve heard some of these phrases around your house or at school:

• I want to go first.
• I get first pick.
• Let me have the first piece.
• No fair!  Why is she always first?

All this wanting to be first causes fights, jealousy and hurt feelings. Worst of all, it gets in the way of loving others. 

The Bible, however, talks about someone who went first in a good way! Jesus! He loved us first before we loved Him. Now we get to give that love away.

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he loved us first” (NIrV). 

Jesus put others first in all kinds of ways. He served others and did the jobs no one else wanted to do. He spent time with people no one else liked, and He told people the truth about God even when He knew it would get Him in trouble. 

Of course, the biggest way Jesus put others first is when He gave up His life on the cross so we could become forgiven friends of God.He loved us first, and now it’s our turn to love others by putting them first too. 

In Philippians 2:3, a Jesus follower named Paul said if you want to be like Jesus, you should, “Value others more than yourselves” (NIrV).

How do you do that? Let your brother have the first piece of cake. Let your sister pick the first toy. Let someone else go first in the board game or be first in line at school.

They may be confused why you are being so kind and loving. If they are, just point to the Bible and explain, “Jesus did it first!”

Take the You First Challenge:  For a whole week let others go first and see what happens.

Prayer: God, thank You for loving me. Please help me to love other people by putting them first even when it’s hard. Amen.

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