Verse of the Day 1/15

 

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,  New King James Version (NKJV)

I read today's verse with yesterday's still in my mind which stated "set your minds on things that are above".  These things these thoughts are the thoughts of Christ.  It is more than simply thinking "what would Jesus do" because if we don't actually know what Jesus would do it is nothing more than using our own logic and creating our own standards.  To know Him is to know Him, know His thoughts from His words and from the scriptures which were ordained.  Perhaps the greatest passage to get an idea of this would be the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7.  But doesn't end there.

 

The bigger question is, do you, do I truly want to have the mind of Christ?  Henry Blackaby writes, "Are you willing to abandon your current values, prejudices, resentments, jealousies, and unforgiveness?  Are your prepared for the Holy Spirit to expose those areas of your thinking that are not in line with Christ's?  Are you willing to fill your mind with God's thoughts found in Scripture?"  Those are tough, sobering, and humbling questions.  But they are the kind of questions that will hit us as we read Scripture, as we read and learn the mind of Christ.

 

It is not passive and it is not automatic.  We must set our minds and let our minds, allow them to absorb and to adopt what we read and learn.  It is definitely a "pilgrim's progress".  One step, one day at a time, with ups and downs but always looking and striving - higher.

 

 Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.  (Philippians 2:2-3 The Message)

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

 

Philippians 2:4-8The Message (MSG)

He Took on the Status of a Slave

2 ^1-4 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

^5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.