In your
relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Phil. 2:5
From Guest Blogger Jim Wiebel:
Now we come to what is one of the
most breath-taking passages in all of Scripture. You might say this is the Mt.
Everest among the mountain peaks of revelation concerning the person of Christ —
the amazing story of how the eternal Son of God stepped out of eternity into
time and became a man, as God always intended man to be. These few short verses
capture some of the most amazing truths that have ever been written.
Lest we be tempted to remove this
passage from its context, however, we must never forget that it’s set against
the background of two quarreling ladies in the church at Philippi. That quarrel
was threatening to destroy the unity of the whole church. The apostle has made
it clear that the secret of maintaining unity is humility. Wherever there is contentiousness, it’s a sure sign that
pride is at work. Pride — whether in
a person’s life, or a family, a church, a government, or a whole nation — always
divides, destroys, and perpetuates conflict of every sort.
Paul’s antidote to quarreling — the
only path to peace, in fact — is to seek the path of humility. When tempers are
hot, passions are aroused, and patience is strained, how can you get people to
calm down and start thinking about a humble attitude? How do you stop the urge
to defend yourself, and the stubborn insistence of what we call our “rights”?
The answer is in this marvelous passage concerning Christ.
Unlike cult heroes of every age,
whose success stories follow a pattern from “rags
to riches,” Jesus’ “success story” was just the opposite: “riches to rags.” And in that story of
“downward mobility,” Paul is challenging us to rethink our whole picture of God
around Jesus. This is a God who is known most clearly when he abandons his
rights for the sake of the world. Yes, says Paul; and that’s “the mind of Christ” — that pattern of
thinking that belongs to you because
you belong to him! And if you are
truly living “in him” and by his kind of life, the exhortations of verses 1-4 (yesterday’s
post) suddenly make a
lot more sense!
Prayer: Forgive me, Father, for insisting on “my way” and “my rights” so much
of the time. Give me the mind of Christ, so that I might live to serve others
in his name and so fulfill my calling as your dear child, just like Jesus.
Amen.
#Uncommon
Do not
think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with
sober judgment … Romans 12:3
We all know him. The guy who talks
about himself incessantly. Like the guy next to me on an airplane once. He went
on about himself for 45 minutes. I couldn’t get a word in. Finally, he paused
and asked, “So where did you say you’re from?” Just the mention of my hometown
reminded him of a trip there, which meant another 20 minutes of him talking about
himself!
Another man invited his boss to his
house for dinner with his family. All through supper the boss kept using this
phrase, “I am a self-made man.” Finally having enough, the employee’s daughter
leaned to her dad and said, “If he’s a self-made man, why did he make himself that way?!”
We don’t tend to like people who are
arrogant, puffed up, and full of themselves. We use a lot of unkind words like
pompous and conceited. Yet how often do we ourselves fall into the trap of
thinking of ourselves “more highly than we ought,” to use Paul’s phrase (Rom. 12:3)? When we have a disagreement with a
spouse, are we more interested in restoring peace … or being right and getting
the last word? When we face criticism, do we choose to take the heat … or do we
pass blame onto others? I believe that much of our criticism of others is much
more about making ourselves look better by comparison than it is about prompting
change.
The sad truth is that we often think
of ourselves too much and consider others far too little. But this should not
be the way of those who follow Christ. The common pattern of the world is to
elevate yourself and tear down others. The uncommon
way of Christ is to consider others better than yourself (see Philippians 2:3-8). Think about this: even Jesus Christ,
who was God Himself, did not think of Himself highly. He lived with extreme
humility and was even willing to die a humiliating, excruciating death —
putting Himself below, while lifting us up.
If we follow Christ we should have the
same humble posture. Rather than tearing others down, we are quick to
understand, slow to judge, generous with forgiveness, rich in showing love,
willing to serve, and sacrificial in lifting others up.
Prayer: Jesus, You gave me a
great example of humility. Help me to have sober judgment, thinking of myself
less and others more. Amen.
