The Lutheran Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States "GOD PAUSE DAILY DEVOTIONS" for Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - Philippians 2:5-11

The Lutheran Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States "GOD PAUSE DAILY DEVOTIONS" for Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - Philippians 2:5 Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua:

6 Though he was in the form of God,

he did not regard equality with God

something to be possessed by force.

7 On the contrary, he emptied himself,

in that he took the form of a slave

by becoming like human beings are.

And when he appeared as a human being,

8 he humbled himself still more

by becoming obedient even to death —

death on a stake as a criminal!

9 Therefore God raised him to the highest place

and gave him the name above every name;

10 that in honor of the name given Yeshua,

every knee will bow —

in heaven, on earth and under the earth —

11 and every tongue will acknowledge[a]

that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai —

to the glory of God the Father.[Footnotes:

Philippians 2:11 Isaiah 45:23[Complete Jewish Bible]]

I wonder sometimes if we forget within our own tradition that we are made in the image of God. Yet it says so in Genesis. We have been created in God's likeness—male and female. I think that changes how we look at living a life of humility, sacrifice and obedience. It's not simply what "good little Christians do," but rather, such a life is what it means to live as one made in God's likeness and image. Such a life is to live as one in mind with Christ Jesus. Such a life confesses and points to what God is like and where God is present to all those around us. In a world where the number of people who don't know God is increasing, it is this likeness and image we have been created in—one fashioned in humility, sacrifice and obedience—that confesses and shares Christ.
Gracious God, help us live in your likeness, in the mind of Christ, so that all may know you in the powerful ways we have known you. Amen.
Aaron Fuller
Pastor, St. Andrew and Holy Communion Lutheran
churches, Portsmouth, Va.
Lieutenant, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy Reserve
Master of Divinity , 2013
Philippians 2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[New Revised Standard Version]
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