The Rev. Wendy Keys ’00
Scripture
Philippians 2:5-11
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death —
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Devotional
Jesus emptied himself of his divinity in order to come to us in humble human form. What could be more humble then a baby born in a stable laid in feeding trough? Paul is urging the church in Philippi and us today to be imitators of Christ. We need to learn how to be servants and not the ones being served. That we need to learn to love each other hour by hour and day by day. It is that basic. When Paul urged the Philippians to be of the same mind as Christ, to imitate him in humility and obedience, he was saying, kneel down and empty out. We must purge ourselves of our pride and self-confidence in order to be filled with the divine love that Christ offers us.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ to teach us what true humility is and that we should be examples of it to the world. For it is in Jesus name we pray all things. Amen.