Through my interactions with others in my everyday life, I’ve come to notice that complaining is a very common practice. When I’m among friends who are complaining about things that I feel equally upset about, sometimes I too would join in their complaining as we bond over our shared dissatisfaction. 

However in Philippians 2, Paul encourages us to “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:14-15) It’s not something that comes naturally or easily, so how should we live so that we may shine as lights in the world? 

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Phil 2:3) 

The key principle here is humility, and Philippians 2 expounds on Jesus being the perfect example of humility. In ESV, it says that Jesus “emptied himself” (Phil 2:7 ESV) and I find that description particularly striking as it gives the idea of God who is omnipotent, intentionally letting go of everything to become nothing for our sakes. As a human, He further “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death”. (Phil 2:8) Through Jesus’ example, we can learn that humility is about obedience. And doing nothing out of selfish ambition is precisely that – obedience to what God wants over what we want, even if it means letting go of our personal interests, because the aim in everything we do is never our glory, but God’s.

Another good example of humility is Paul, who commended his coworkers Timothy and Epaphroditus, acknowledging their work and praising God for them. Paul truly demonstrated what he meant by ”esteeming others better than himself”. When we work with others, do we tend to notice their faults or weaknesses first instead of noticing their strengths? This could lead to disputes among coworkers, or complaints against one another. Learning from Paul, some good traits we can look out for and be grateful for in our coworkers are sincerity, love, faithfulness and willingness to sacrifice – all of which are not difficult to find if we have the heart to look out for it. 

In conclusion, humility is an important value we ought to have as Christians, where it ultimately boils down to always prioritising God and others above ourselves. When we are humble, we are able to obey God and esteem others better than ourselves. While the world we live in may encourage us to boast about personal accomplishments to show others how capable we are, let us remember the words of Jesus: “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:12).