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“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…” Philippians 2:5

Let me see if I can summarize the next 6 verses that are very familiar to many:

Jesus was God

He voluntarily allowed Himself to be made into the likeness of humanity

He lowered Himself even to the state of servanthood

He was killed

He rose again

AND BECAUSE OF THIS- God exalted Him to the highest place possible.

That’s the gospel and that’s apparently an explanation for how to follow Jesus. The word “humility” appears multiple times here and elsewhere in the story as one of the key indicators of describing Jesus and describing an identifier of whether I’m understanding what it means to follow Him.

Humility is not being a “whimp.” Far from it! I don’t see anything whimpy about Jesus and what He did for me, and I don’t think it defines a Christian. Humility, as I understand it, is a consciousness that life is not all about me, and that’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes in this current culture! Jesus voluntarily focused on following the Father to bring Him the glory rather than Himself. THAT is humility, and THAT is apparently what caused God to honor and “highly exalt” His Son. I’m guessing that He applies the same criteria and results to my life as well.

I once heard a definition of Christianity as simply “other-centeredness.” That’s all; just turning -the focus away from me and onto Jesus and others. It’s not easy and it’s not for the faint-of-heart! It takes strength to stand alone sometimes in humility “counting others higher than myself.” But in so doing, as God did with Jesus, so He will do for me, I place myself in a position to be “exalted” BY GOD and not the world, when HE knows is best and in the WAY He knows is best. The “exalting” is up to Him; the serving is up to me. Interestingly enough, the “exalted” may just be the inner joy that I continue to discover when I do focus on serving others more than serving me.

Have a great day keeping priorities straight according to God’s ideals,

Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “When we elevate the created over the Creator, the pleasure He provided for us becomes its own dead end.”

PS Therapy Dog event 11am to 2pm, hosted by The Wellness Committee!

PPS Question Persuade Refer (QPR) 5:00 p.m. | Shawnee Porter Room—Ortner Center
Come learn three simple steps to help prevent suicide. Pizza will be provided.

PPPS Christ on Demand- 7:30pm in Rees Hall Chapel. Join Amber and friends for 30 minutes of praise and the Word.