“In your relationship 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;” – Philippians 2:5-6
As a child growing up my brothers and I would enter into a world of imagination and play for hours. Whether we were Jedis swinging lightsabers, or cowboys firing our guns, we could always have an adventure. We could make up any super power and in that moment we could believe we truly had that super power. I remember playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” one day and my brother called God. I immediately told him that it wasn’t fair, because God beats all things. I say all of this because when I first read this verse, I tried to imagine what it would be like to be God. He holds the universe in His hands, He knows every breath we take before we are even conceived, and He has power over all things, because He made all things. I can’t even fathom how immense the power of God is, it blows my mind trying to think about it. But, what blows my mind even more is that Jesus Christ, being God, denied Himself that power and lived as a human. Even when Satan tempted Christ in the desert, He held fast to His confidence in His Father, but He didn’t claim His own rights as God.
There were so many instances within Jesus life where He could have made use of who He is, for example when He was put on the cross. Jesus could have used His equality with God to stop any pain, or stop the whole process completely, but He didn’t. Why? Because He loved us, dirty sinners, with an unexplainable unconditional love. The account of when Jesus washes the disciples feet was burned into my mind the first week here, at IGNITE. I feel as if I have used it to so many times already in my IBS’s, but the elephant of that story is still so powerful. Jesus Christ is God, and yet Jesus washes His disciples feet, putting Himself in the lowest position on earth. But, the thing that blows my mind about this account the most, is that Jesus had the foreknowledge and knew that they were going to abandon Him, deny Him and betray Him. Yet, even knowing all of this, knowing that the ones He was about to go to suffer the wrath of God for were going to turn on Him, He washed their feet to show them servant hood, to show them His unconditional love.
This is an example for us in so many ways, but in this instances we can take the example of not putting ourselves above others because we are saved. We are no better then those who do not know the Lord. Instead of putting ourselves above them, our hearts should break for them. They are blind and we can see; yet, so many times we don’t share the reason for our sight. Christ is God and He humbled Himself below His creation, how much more should we humble ourselves and love everyone around us? Not looking at them for their sin, but looking at them as a child of God that He wants to redeem.
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