Reading Philippians chapter two reminded me again how much we can learn from the apostle Paul. He was exhorting the believers of Philippi to imitate Christ’s humility and His mindset which I think would be beneficial to all of us.
“In your relationships 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; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2: 5-8).
The verses above show the depth of the humility that Jesus had. Jesus was and is God but He did not use His nature for His own advantage to save Himself from the terrible death He faced. God the Father was able to stop everything from happening to His son and Jesus had the right to say no but you know what He did instead? He prayed a profound prayer, scared and sad (“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” Matthew 26:38) asking God to remove the cup which was the crucifixion, BUT He added, “My Father if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matthew 26: 42). Jesus prayed the same prayer three times! But after that, He humbled Himself and obeyed God because of the love He has for you and me. He accepted to go through the most shameful death to be able to win your life, to save your life! His eyes were on His mission, He humbled Himself and obeyed. Let me tell you that if you keep your eyes on Jesus, humble yourself, and obey Him, He will equip you with everything you need to go through your worst situation. The best of all that is, that will not be the end, you will get the reward as Jesus, shown to us in the following verses:
“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
God did not abandon Jesus, He walked with Him when He was going through difficult times and REWARDED Him for He obeyed His Father. Like Jesus, you will be rewarded, in the highest place (Heaven), where you will be worshipping Him day and night with all nations (Revelations 15:4).
As I said in the beginning, we can learn a lot from the apostle Paul. The following verses show how much He was in pain while writing to the believers of Philippi.
“And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ” (Philippians 2: 16-17).
In the above verses, Paul was looking forward to the day of Christ to show the world that he did not suffer in vain. Paul knew that he will be rewarded, which made him enjoy his labor. Paul used the image of pouring a drink offering on the sacrifice and this was done in the ancient testament when they were offering sacrifices of lamb, ram, or bull. They would pour wine beside the altar to symbolize the dedication of a person in worship to God.
Paul felt like his whole life was being poured out as an act of worship to all those he served. Although his imprisonment ended in death, living a life in service to God brought him joy. At the end of his life, Paul made a similar statement;
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” (2 Timothy 4:6).
Prayer: Father God, may the Holy Spirit helps us to surrender ourselves to you and be like Jesus. Grant us the ability to be like Jesus, to humble ourselves and obey You as Jesus did regardless of the difficult situations we are going through. Help us to keep our eyes on you, Lord, to the mission You gave us, and may we work not as working for our earthly masters but as working for you since we will be rewarded on the day of Jesus Christ. Amen
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