One of my first jobs in the business world was “market strategy”.  God sent me a shrewd mentor with a military background to teach me the ropes.  My mentor began with a synopsis on the “art of war”.  There were two groups, he explained, that I needed to study one was the “customers” and the other was the “competition”.  From a spiritual perspective we should consider that God is the “customer”; He’s the Holy One we need to serve.  Satan is the competition; he’s the evil one we need to defeat.  My mentor explained that I would need to spend as much time understanding the competition as I would understanding my customer if I wanted to be successful.  It was essential to understand how my competitor would try to destroy my plan for profit.  And it’s essential that you understand how the devil will try to destroy your opportunity to please God and profit spiritually. 

Here’s what we all need to know about the devil.  The devil plants a dirty little question in the mind of every human being to manipulate our every choice…And that question is “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME!”  Satan’s goal is that everything you do, every choice you make must flow out of a selfish, egotistical orientation…even an act of kindness must be motivated by a selfish desire for personal gain.

One of the greatest tragedies in the world today is, in my opinion, abortion.  Men and women consider the question “what’s in it for me” and elect to kill their unborn babies.  If we are truly God’s people then we must understand that the Holy One who we are serving gives us a different question to consider and that question is “What would Jesus do.”   I am sad when I hear people speak about the possibility that one of the babies that the world aborted could have been the inventor of an important medical cure, or an influential leader…Think about it!  That line of reasoning flows out of the question “what’s in it for me”; how might I have profited if that life was not lost.

One of the most beautiful souls I have met on earth occurred as a chance meeting at a grocery store.  I met a teenage boy who looked like he was doing his first job.  His job was to help wheel my cart full of groceries to my car and help me load my car.  He was the most enthusiastic employee I have ever met.  He was so happy to be helping me.  He had a smile I will never forget.  He had Down’s Syndrome.  Is he any less important to God than the inventor of a medical cure?  Is it possible that he will give God more glory with his childlike innocence and kindness than a person of higher IQ driven by the question “what’s in for me”?  If we want to serve God, then we need to get focused on understanding and embracing His will.  How can our choices give Him the honor and praise and glory that He deserves!

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  Philippians 2:3-4