In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature 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 2:5-9
Paul continues to describe what it is like for us to be humble and “worthy of the Gospel” using in this instance the very example of Jesus Himself.
Jesus was by His nature God. Imagine what it could be like for Him to set aside the glory of heaven to be born in a stable; what earthly prince would so lower himself? He took on the very nature of a servant when He became a man. Now many of us might not be used to thinking of ourselves that way, but in God’s sight, that’s what we are: His servants and all of the riches on earth cannot change that simple fact. So, Jesus took on our form, that of a servant, was born in the humblest of circumstances, into a working man’s family. No privileges, no fancy title, no big name, just a working class guy.
As if this were not enough, Jesus, by nature God, became the servant of all, taking this to the point where He was willing to sacrifice Himself for the rest of His servants. Yet not only did He give Himself up for us, He gave Himself up to be crucified, of all things, the most terribly painful method of execution I know of. Think about it: There He was, beaten, ridiculed, tortured, stripped naked and nailed to a cross and then lifted up for all to see as He bore our sins. The people in the crowd, and there were plenty there, hurled insults at Him while He died very slowly in agony: A barbaric scene to say the least. And what had He done to deserve such treatment?
Nothing at all.
What a beautiful reminder of what it means to have the mindset of Jesus. In a world of self-gratification and selfishness, such humility is unheard of. Thanks for encouraging us to think about this, pursue this, be reminded of what we’ve been called to do.
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