Scripture Daily

Context No. 4116 of 4322 · Philippians

Context · Reflection

Philippians 2:19-24: in context

19But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing. 20For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you. 21For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. 22But you know that he has proved himself. As a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News. 23Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me. 24But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

Paul tells the Philippians he hopes to send Timothy to them, and in commending him, he pays Timothy a high compliment while lamenting a common failing. I have no one else like him, Paul says, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare; for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Timothy stood out precisely because he genuinely cared about others, not just himself. There is a sad and searching observation buried in Paul's praise: they all seek their own interests. Even among those around Paul, genuine, self-forgetting concern for others was rare; most were preoccupied with their own concerns. Timothy was the exception, a man who truly cared for the welfare of others, who had proved his worth by serving faithfully. It is easy, even natural, to be absorbed in our own interests, our own advancement, and to give only passing thought to the welfare of others. Timothy's example calls us to something better: a genuine, active concern for the good of others.

Am I genuinely concerned for the welfare of others, seeking their good and not merely my own interests, or am I, like so many, mostly absorbed in my own concerns, and will I aspire to the self-forgetting care that marked Timothy?

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