PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11

Humility. Servanthood. Obedience. Death.

These aren’t things that come to mind in association with exaltation, praise, glory, or greatness. And yet in Philippians 2 this is the path of Jesus set by his Father. But it doesn’t end in death!

Jesus is exalted to the highest place of status and honor and praise. He has all authority and power and one day he will be worshipped by everyone for it.

We often want to run to exaltation and praise while ignoring the path of dying to ourselves that gets us there. But Jesus came to us as a baby and grew up into a man, serving us first. He lived and embodied what it means to, “do nothing out of selfish ambition but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.”

I can’t think of a more appropriate day to meditate on this passage of scripture than on Christmas Day! When we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus, the Word made flesh. He came to his own and his own rejected him. He came to die for us.

No servant is greater than his master. And as followers of Jesus, we have this path set before us to walk in. Glory is coming but for now let’s choose humility and obedience and death by the enabling power of the Spirit.