THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
June 7, 2004
Passages That Have Made Me What I am
Phillipians 2:5-8
Have this same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled (emptied) himself
and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross.
The passage goes on to detail the end of the story as to what happened to Jesus as a result of adopting the servant stance which is another story. But for us the position in abundantly clear. Adopt the servant stance if you really want to follow Jesus. And that is what happens if we say Jesus is Lord. We become his servants and treat others as he did, looking out to find the unwelcome, the dispossessed, the down and out, the unwelcome and the unwanted. Even with those who should know better making themselves obnoxious around others. Of course this is not easy. But it seems to me what we are called to do. "Have this same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus." The teaching seems pretty simple to me. In any case, as difficult at times as it is for me I need to remind myself that if I want to practice what I preach, this I must do trusting God that he will take care of me in the ultimate destiny of life.
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