Sunday, September 14, 2014

There is power in self-sacrifice


“When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Scripture Text: ((PHIL 2:6-11)
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus did what He did out of obedience to the Father and love for us!

If we are to follow Jesus, we need to be willing to empty ourselves of the desire to be the center of everything, in other words, to be the "God" of our own lives. We need to empty ourselves of looking at others and at all of creation in terms of what we can get from them. In the words of Alcoholics Anonymous, we need to be relieved "of the bondage of self."

As we follow Jesus, and become more for others and less for self, we find we cannot isolate ourselves from the world, as tempting as that is today. God did not "give his only Son" so that we would turn our backs on the world that He loves so much, as soon as we believed in Jesus! The world, in such pain and distress, needs what has been given to us in Jesus Christ!


Obviously, we can't do this on our own. I know I need grace in order to get outside of myself, and let go of being only concerned for myself. But the great thing is that God's grace in Jesus Christ is always available! God's grace is poured out on us continually!

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