Attitude is everything.
Sometimes in my cynical mind, I wonder if this statement is true. Yet, according to Philippians 2:5-11, it turns out our attitude is pretty important.
Attitude controls so much of how you look at life and your faith. And here’s the thing about attitude – you can control it.
In this scripture, Paul commands us to adopt an attitude like Christ. Even when there are so many things in life you can’t control, you can manage your disposition about life.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 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. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is the ultimate example to follow, and He exemplified an attitude of humility. We must embrace the Christ-like attitude that has already been given to us. We have been given the mind of Christ when we receive salvation.
We already have the attitude of Christ, but we must cultivate it. If God gave you a farm, you’d have to cultivate the land to see the results and the benefits of this farm. Mindset has much to do with your level of contentment in life. The world lies to you and says that wealth and earthly success lead to joy and contentment, but worldly success and wealth lead to vanity.
There is an epidemic of entitlement that we see everywhere. This attitude comes from feeding your own desires instead of focusing on serving others. The attitude of Christ is self-sacrifice and humility. We should give to others above ourselves for the sake of God’s glory. God gives us joy, happiness, and contentment. Sometimes we forget how to get there.
That’s the attitude of Christ. Christ was always thinking about others. To bear the name of Christ is to follow His attitude. I love seeing nostalgic things in my life. I love to see my granddad’s ostrich skin boots. They are worth a lot to me because I want to walk in his shoes. He was humble and meek, yet strong in his faith.
Paul tells us what Christ’s attitude was like in Philippians. Jesus descended to us in the ultimate act of humility by emptying himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and becoming obedient to death on the cross.
Jesus was constantly submitting his divine nature to his human nature. Jesus had nothing to gain by becoming a human. Yet, He chose to lower Himself from the God nature to experience humanity. Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was the Son of God.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2
In this passage, John was saying that Jesus always was and will continually be God. Jesus existed as God, He didn’t regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. “Grasped” means to cling to a thing for selfish gain. This concept meant that Jesus didn’t use His divine nature as God to benefit Himself alone. He used His divine nature to serve others.
Jesus had the power to do anything He wanted to do. He had the power to destroy everyone who ever disrespected Him, but instead, He died for those who hated and tortured him. This is humility.
How can we emulate the attitude of Christ? The answer is to be humble. Like Christ, are you willing to put aside your greatest qualities? Are you willing to put aside your greatest human desire to see other people lifted up? When you see a friend in need. Better yet, let’s take that one step further when you see an enemy in need. The question is what are you willing to give up to help them? What are you willing to empty yourself of? To end an argument. What are you willing to put aside?
Pride, your human rights and your dignity are just a few things that are hard to give up. These things can get in the way of us sharing the gospel. The excuses are focused on self, instead of focusing on God or other people. Are you willing to lay down your rights for others?
We don’t like to sacrifice our rights. We don’t like to sacrifice what we have the right to or the right to do for the sake of others. But that’s what Jesus did. Ask yourself “What did Jesus have the right to before He was crucified on the cross?”
Do you think Jesus had the right to be respected as the God-man? Do you think Jesus as an innocent man, even under Roman law had the right to be physically protected? Absolutely He did. Yet, instead of fighting for his rights, he laid them down and died for those who were whipping him.
So far are you willing to go for others? Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to death. We are supposed to follow Him on that path, but it’s a choice. We must make the choice like Jesus did.
Seek God, exalt Christ, and let Him lift you up. Jesus made the choice to follow the path less traveled, and that was the path of humility.
