What Trifling Sacrifices He Asks Of Us

Christ Jesus … being in very nature God … made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Philippians 2:5-7

At your annual job review, your employer praises you for your outstanding work—but instead of the promotion you had hoped for, he demotes you so that others might receive promotions. How do you react?

Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, willingly “demoted” himself to take a servant’s role. God condescended to become a man so that sinners might be “promoted” to heaven.

With J. Hudson Taylor, consider the humility of Christ.

WALK WITH J. HUDSON TAYLOR
“Let us reflect on what he gave up on leaving heaven’s throne to be cradled in a manger.

“Having filled all things and wielded omnipotence, he became a feeble infant and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Being the Loved One of the Father, never unappreciated, never misunderstood, and always receiving the ceaseless adoration of the hierarchies of heaven, he became a despised Nazarene, misunderstood even by his followers, suspected by those whom he came to bless, rejected by those who owed him their very being, and whose salvation he had come to seek.

“Finally, he was mocked and spit upon, crucified and slain, with thieves and outlaws.

“Will any brother or sister in Christ reflect on this, and yet hesitate to make the trifling sacrifices he asks us to make?”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Being like Christ means thinking like Christ (see Philippians 2:5). And when he came from heaven, he wasn’t thinking of himself; he was thinking of others. Loss of privilege and setting aside of power meant little, if by that he might save the objects of his love.

Would you be willing to volunteer for a similar demotion?

Think carefully before you respond; he may take you at your word.