#DailyDevotion Think As Christ Jesus Thought

Phil. 2:5-9 ⁵Think just as Christ Jesus thought: ⁶Although He was God, He did not consider His being equal with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷but He emptied Himself, made Himself a slave, became like other human beings, ⁸and was seen to have the ways of a man. He became obedient and humbled Himself until He died, yes, died on a cross.

Think as Christ Jesus thought. Now while the following verse give explanation as what this looks like so do the previous verses: “be one in thought and in love, live in harmony, keep one purpose in mind. ³Don’t be selfish or proud, but humbly treat others as better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you, don’t be interested in your own things, rather in the things of others.”

Christ Jesus was one in thought and love, lived in harmony and kept one purpose in mind with the Father. To think as Christ Jesus thought, we are called to be one in thought and love with our fellow Christians. Sometimes this seems to be impossible even with those whom we share the faith with. Yet it is something to strive for. Sometimes to do this we have to love the other person enough and humble ourselves enough to listen to the other person whom we don’t understand or agree with. Maybe we’re just not thinking the same way about something and when it comes down to it, we actually do think the same thing, just think about it differently. To think like Jesus is to live in harmony. We may be playing a different part but it is harmony, it resonates in a pleasing way with what others are doing. We are to keep one purpose in mind. That one purpose is have faith in Jesus Christ and to glorify his name.

We are not called to be selfish and proud but humbly treat others as better than ourselves. This is how Jesus thought and acted among us. He thought of only serving the whole world. You need only concern yourselves with the people you meet along the way. No matter who someone is and what they are doing and what their status in life is, that person was made in the image and likeness of God. They are someone Jesus suffered and died for so they may share in the glory of God. Let us give dignity to all people as Christ reached out to the poor, the diseased, and sinners in telling them what God has done for them in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in Romans 12, “¹⁰Love one another tenderly as fellow Christians. Outdo one another in showing respect.” So we should be like Chip and Dale (the chipmunks), “After you. No after you,” but not comically. We should be asking ourselves, “How can I be of service to this person in front of me?” This is fulfilling the royal law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now Christ, being God, humbled himself and did not display his divine glory so that mankind would serve him. No, he because as one of us. He became a servant. He emptied himself of his divine glory. He became the servant of all. This too is thinking like Christ Jesus Paul calls us to. If we are disciples of Christ then we should follow him in his ways. He humbled himself and became obedient until he died on a cross. Doesn’t sound all that glorious until you realize in this act he won salvation for you, me and all people. Sometimes in thinking like Jesus we too may have to make sacrifices so others may hear the good news of Jesus. Sometimes we may have to make sacrifices to help someone else out of the mire of the mess they made for themselves. They don’t deserve it. That is why it is called mercy. We too received mercy from Jesus.

Heavenly Father, give us a humble and willing spirit to be of service to our fellows and to think as Christ Jesus thought in our every day lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.