“In your relationships with
one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in the very form
of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own
advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death
— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8
To put this portion of scripture in a different context, it is
like a King shedding his kingly garb to live among the serfs. Today it would be
like the governor of a state shedding his authority to live among the
homeless. The difference is that the
serfs/homeless would probably recognize the king/governor at some point. Christ
became flesh as a newborn baby, not a full grown adult. No one knew Him except those who were looking
for Him and were called to go see Him.
Christ didn’t consider His divinity to be something He desired to
display among His creation. He could have
come as God and demanded the servitude of mankind, but He didn’t, choosing
instead to have them voluntarily serve Him of their own free will. When on the cross He could have summoned a
myriad of angels to destroy all those who had made Him suffer, but He remained
obediently silent, taking on the sins of mankind as part of His Father’s plan
for the redemption of all men.
Knowing all that Christ has done for you and me, is there
any good reason why we shouldn’t devote our lives to Him? Our excuses that we have no time fall flat
when we consider what we actually do with
all our time. We find time for all sorts
of non-essentials, yet when it comes to spending time with the One we refer to
as our Lord and Savior we hem and haw. I
do the very same thing and it’s shameful considering all Christ had the time to
do for us. God didn’t have to save us. He created us, but could have left us to our
own devices. He chose not to. Just as Christ humbled Himself, so we are to
humble ourselves. We need to become like
Christ in this life so as to become a reflection of God’s goodness and mercy in
this world.
One day we may be asked to stand up for Christ in a
difficult situation. We may actually be
faced with our own martyrdom. Think it
can’t happen in America, think again.
Will we stand and be counted among the faithful or will we bow to an
evil despot who seeks to rid the world of Christians as is happening in other
parts of the world even now. It’s your
choice. Until next time, walk with the
King and be a blessing!
