Philippians 2.8 - "Not what I want"...

"...and having been found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, having come to be obedient unto death, but death of a cross."

-He didn’t only take on human appearance - Christ lowered Himself.  in other words, others better.  certainly God better.  He wasn’t obeying people per se, He was listening to His Father.  He embraced ‘not what I want but rather what You want’ (luke 22.42).  He was the eternally glorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Creator of the entire universe, God almighty albeit in human flesh, and yet He allowed Himself to first be born as a human baby - in a stable - to poor parents to whom He submitted Himself - and later to be betrayed and arrested and beaten and abused and whipped and killed on a cross.  He of course had to go through these things as part of the divine plan but in order to go through them He had to lower Himself.  He was indeed surpassingly better than anyone around Him.  He had the power to not only protect Himself but do whatever He wanted, and yet He divested Himself of this power and authority and status and took on frail and finite human flesh and walked among us.  He was a helpless baby and an obedient child and a young man Who grew tired and hungry and cried and felt pain and betrayal and Who grieved over the utter brokenness of the world.  He simply said, ‘not what I want.’  and He let Himself be tortured and executed by people whose only power to do that to Him came from God Himself.  FOR THEM.  it was not about Him.  there was no hint of me-first, me-better.  He lived perfectly into the low-thinking which we are here being exhorted to embrace.  this is our example.

-obedient.  obedient all the way unto death.  saying no to bad choices and to His flesh and to what He wanted and saying yes to what pleased His Heavenly Father (john 8.29).  He did what was right and what was asked of Him all the way to giving His life in obedience to His Father.  death of course is the ultimate obedience - there is no greater form of love (john 15.13)(and of course there is no greater command than to love - mark 12.30-32).  and Jesus was not just dying for the ones who were following Him - He was dying for the ones who were killing Him.  and not just any death - it was death on a roman cross, an extreme, excruciating form of torture and execution.  and the cross was preceded by hours of sleep-deprivation, beating and as well as a scourging - 39 lashes with a cat-and-nine-tails that literally ripped the flesh of His back and brought Him to death’s doorstep.  you could perhaps ask the question, could the sacrifice have been accomplished with a different form of death, say, a guillotine, or a gibbet?  it is interesting to think about, however not very helpful.  the fact remains - Jesus lowered Himself (for the sake of others), said no to self and yes to God all the way to giving up His life (for the sake of others), and in so doing lived perfectly into others-first others-better.

-oh, how much of my life and heart is consumed with taking care of number one, taking care of me first and doing what i want, indulging my fleshly desires and living for the things that don’t last.  how easily i give into disobedience.  how easy it is for me to look down on someone else, to somehow think less of them, maybe because of how they talk or decisions they make or things they do or don’t do, maybe because they don’t have the same education or training or convictions or priorities that i have, maybe because the things that they do which affect me aren’t exactly how i would like them to be.  and as long as what they do doesn’t affect me, i usually don’t even care.  oh Lord, have mercy on my pride and selfishness and deliver me from this slavery of me-first me-better.  help me to think and live like Jesus.  please give me the grace today and every day to live into the cross so that Christ can truly live in and through me (galatians 2.20).  yes, the cross of Christ is more than just an historical event - it is a daily destination for those who follow Him (luke 9.23)...  i have a long, long way to go.