Wednesday, April 27,
2022
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus
had. Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine
privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human
being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death
on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8
Paul’s words to the church
reminds us that the man who died on Calvary wasn't like any other man; HE was
God! Paul said that Jesus made
himself nothing. One Bible
translation uses the word emptied. The picture is one of sacrifice.
In the temple a sacrifice of an
animal was made for sin. The blood and
water were poured on the altar, an emptying. Like that picture, imagine God was in one
form in heaven. Like a glass contains
water and can be emptied, so God poured Himself into the
form of a man and died for us.
Of course, Paul was looking back
to what Jesus said about following – a disciple becomes just like the
Master. And what Jesus said about that
was it would include the more sticky parts of that which Jesus was willing to
do for others.
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you
must give up your own
way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
This should put to rest the notion that salvation and discipleship are
handled neatly in a moment’s decision at the end of a church service. Jesus said take up your cross DAILY!
·
Attending church worship services in
our comfortable seats, in air-conditioned sanctuaries is not
cross-bearing.
·
Paying our tithes and giving
offerings is not cross-bearing.
·
Serving on committees, or showing up
for workdays isn't cross-bearing.
Those acts of worship and
service, doing things for others, are not bad or a waste of time. True disciples do all that…and much
more. But cross-bearing is beyond just
being kind or helpful, or committed to routines or rituals…it is the attitude
Paul said Jesus had, being willing to die for others…people who didn’t have a
clue how much of a gift was coming their way…even the ones who shouted out crucify
him, and the ones who engineered having him nailed to the cross.
So, what about us…those of us
who claim to follow Him as disciples? Do
we have the Christ-likeness to give ourselves up for poor people in our
county? How about people of different
skin color? What about the unchurched
and uncaring? What about the dirty street
people? Beloved, following the Master in
true cross-bearing, emptying oneself for the sake of another, is a far cry from
deciding to fry chicken for Homecoming this year!
For You Today
If you’ve ever been challenged at this point
of discipleship, to become a cross-bearing follower of Jesus, you’ve also asked
the question: WHY? Aside from the obvious (response to His
loving death on a cross for you), there is another, most personal reason. It has to do with the result
of cross-bearing.
So, let me tease you into tomorrow’s
devotion:
If cross-bearing is
the decision, crown-wearing is the destination.
[1] Title image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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