It seems we human beings have three ways of dealing with our own importance. We can demand that our importance be recognized. All of us have known folks who are more important than the rest of us, and they want us to know it. Ironically, such an attitude wins such people the opposite of what they really want. They are seeking approval and respect, but they often end up disdained.

Then there are people who are important, yet they do not demand recognition. Once Mike Huckabee, while he was governor of Arkansas, came to one of our Sunday services at Thorncrown Chapel. I remember opening the door, and he was standing there with his wife. He wanted no recognition. We have had other VIPs visit the chapel, and often the media and great fanfare accompany them. Huckabee would have none of that. He was just a fellow who wanted to go to church with his wife. We usually are impressed by folks who are important but act just like a “regular guy.” They often get the admiration and respect that we all cherish.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11

Yet, there is an even higher way in the eyes of God. It is the way Christ walked. No one in heaven or on the earth was more important than He. Yet, He counted you and I as more important than Himself. God counted us as more important than Himself. Such a concept is almost too great to grasp. However, if He did not place us before Himself, there never would have been a cross.

God calls us to walk in the same way. We are to make others feel like they are somebody of great importance. Such is the way of the kingdom of God. This flies in the face of face of our celebrity based society where some people are stars and others are not. Because of what Christ has done, everyone is a celebrity in the kingdom of God. How blessed are those who see that and treat their neighbor as such even if their neighbor is a “nobody” in the world’s eyes.

Because Christ lowered Himself to be the lowest of the low, God raise Him up to be the highest of the high. The same holds true for us. When we give our brother worth and importance, we find our own worth and importance.