SERVING LIKE CHRIST

Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

An inconvenient truth is that a servant is not greater than the master.  When the Son left Heaven and took on human flesh he experienced humanity--he understands what it is like to be human.  One cannot ever say about God that he is unjust because he doesn't really understand what it is like to be human; he does!  God does not insulate himself from the pain, sorrow, temptation and death that we experience, for Jesus experienced it all.

In like fashion Christ calls each disciple to have that same mind.  I believe this is one of the salient messages of the gospel.  If we are to have peace with one another and if we are to help others we have to be willing to give up our own preeminence to enter the world of others.  It is only by entering their world that we can come into understanding distance, which is the distance necessary to help.

It is dangerous to enter the world of another.  As Jesus brought the character of the Father with him, so we must bring the character of Christ with us!  Christ came into a sinful world, but did not sin; he maintained integrity.  One of the very real dangers of entering the world of another is becoming infected with the same disease!  The best counsel and the best help we can give is found in the character of Christ that we manifest in their world.  For people who have been lied to; for people who have been abused and manipulated, bringing the light and integrity of Christ into their world is the best counsel one can give.

Jesus left the glories of Heaven to save us, as his servants, can't we at least give up a little of our personal comfort to reach out to the ones he loves?

Grace&Peace;
Tom