Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 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” (Phil. 2:5-8 NKJV).
When God wanted to reveal Himself to us He limited Himself to not only becoming a baby, but one that was like a servant. He had our human nature but He wasn’t born with our human independence and sin.
God went even lower than being a servant. He died on the cross willingly – an ignominious, degrading death in the ancient Roman Empire. Jesus went all the way to dealing with the problem of sin by taking our sin to the cross.
Our sin separates us from God now and for eternity. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) but Jesus stepped in and took our punishment. All we have to do is believe and accept that He is our Saviour from the judgment that we deserve. His step father, Joseph, was told to give Mary’s baby the name, ‘Jesus’, for that name meant that He was to save people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).
There are just 3 steps to becoming a follower of Jesus:
1. We can’t trust in our moral or religious good deeds. We always have that independent streak that leads us into sin. We need to admit Jesus is our Saviour.
2. We need to confess Jesus as “LORD”. When Moses asked who God was, God replied that He was “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14).
3. As it was stated in our opening quote, we need to imitate Jesus, letting His servant-like mind be in us so that we can serve others with generosity.
May this day of celebrating our Saviour’s birth enrich us so that we can be a blessing to others.