Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The ultimate act of humility. Jesus was God, he could have exercised powers and done anything with his life. But instead, he came to love. He came to serve. He came to be humble. To be obedient. And ultimately, he came to die. He chose to do what he was sent to do, when he could have done anything.
We have that choice too. We can chose to live under the influences of this world. Or we can chose to live under the influence of the cross. We have a daily choice to live like Jesus did, or not. And if we choose Jesus, daily we die to the old self, daily we become obedient, daily we are called to humility, service, and love.
Jesus' humility lead straight to sacrifice. So should ours. The ultimate act of humility --> the ultimate sacrifice. He sacrificed himself. I don't know about you guys, but that blows my mind every time I think about it. He gave his life for me? If he sacrificed his life, why is it so hard for me to sacrifice something that is so little in comparison to the people around me? Christ sacrificed for us, we can sacrifice for others. Because we love God, love others and are humble, sacrifice should be an automatic outpouring. It shouldn't stop at humility.
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