STOOPING TO RISE

 

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, (Philippines 2:8-9 NKJV)

We wake up from the unconsciousness of infancy to find ourselves in a world of revolt, and learn that so far as the memory of man reaches back into the past, this conflict has been recognized as existing between man and himself, man and his contemporaries, man and God. Is there no help? Will not God some day bring peace and good will into these troubled scenes? Yes, indeed! This paragraph tells us that the time will come when every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Christ is Lord, and that God will be glorified. This is being effected by Christ through means that we did not expect.

When our Lord stooped to live visibly among men, He refused to avail Himself of the reverence due to His original nature. He had been in the form of God, but was content to veil His glory, to assume the form of a servant, to be made in the likeness of men. In the manger of Bethlehem, in the home of Nazareth, in the voluntary limitations of His earthly ministry, in His obedience to the death of the cross, there was the hiding of His power. He refused to use the attributes of His intrinsic deity, that He might manifest the love of God that He might bear away the guilt of the world, and work out and bring in an eternal righteousness. Therefore He is exalted and bears forever more the name of Jesus, the Savior of the world.

The Apostle says, let this same mind be in you; think these-thoughts; follow in the steps of Jesus. We must show a holy emptiness as to who shall stoop the lowest, and follow the master the closest. The most urgent matter for each of us to consider is whether at any cost we have the mind which was in Christ, whether at any cost to ourselves we are manifesting the love of God to those around us.  Are you?

PRAYER

Our heavenly Father, give us the patience, the tender pity, the humility of Jesus our Lord; who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor. Make us obedient even to the death of the cross. Help us to not only save ourselves but others in the process. In Your Sons name I pray, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #79:
Thousands may fall around you, but you will not be harmed. 

Psalm 91:7 (WEB)
A thousand may fall at your side,and ten thousand at your right hand;
but it will not come near you.