For Saturday May 27, 2023
Philippians 2:4
Let each of you look out not only for his own interests,
but also for the interests of others.
The greater good is a phrase we hear often today. It has good implications (when a family member gives up a personal preference for the sake of family harmony) and bad (when society decides the unborn and infirm are too big a burden). In other words, the needs of the majority do not always take precedence. But sometimes they do.
In the early church, a situation arose that had the potential to keep the church from becoming the unified body God intended. Initially, the church had a distinctly Jewish flavor—faithful Jews found it hard to immediately give up centuries of laws and traditions that were meaningless to Gentiles. Then Gentiles came into the church, and they found it hard to give up centuries of pagan practices that were offensive to Jews. In Acts 15, we find the church leaders working out a compromise: Jews were to stop insisting the Gentiles keep Jewish laws, and Gentiles were to avoid practices that offended the Jews. The result: peace and unity in the church.
Don’t be afraid to put the interests of others ahead of your own when necessary. The church’s greater good, and God’s glory, will be the result.
In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.
ST. AUGUSTINE
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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