We often think of Jesus in one of two ways: the baby in the manger and the man on the cross. Sometimes we envisage the man walking through the land of Israel, restoring health and relationships. Rarely, however, do we think about Him BEFORE He was the baby in the stable.

Who was He then? Jesus is not a created being like angels and humans. He is God. He spoke into existence the universe that had not existed before. His words initiated solar systems with the greatest of detail. He uttered His wishes and sky, earth, trees, plants, animals, and fish came to be. He used dirt of the ground and ribs to form humans and breathed life into them.

Jesus was and is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (all-present). Angels bow before Him, constantly singing His praises. He was and is without flaw. His love is everlasting.

Because of that love, He gave up all His divine privileges. All. Of. Them. He accepted the position of a slave, that is, a human.

Don’t get all upset over that terminology! God/Jesus was, is, and will always be utterly sovereign. In relation to Him, we are slaves. We are the ones who bow before Him, not the other way around. We worship Him, and are reigned over by Him. His wishes are our commands. Commands meant to be obeyed.

It’s beyond my mental capacity to understand how Almighty God could become as a created being, but He did it, and the fact doesn’t require my understanding of it to be true.

Not only did He leave behind all that was His in Heaven and on earth, He lowered Himself even more to be seen and treated like the worst of criminals to be ridiculed, tortured and crucified.

Hear this, Believer, our Savior was NOT murdered.
His life was NOT stolen from Him. Neither those Roman soldiers, nor the Pharisees, nor the mob took Jesus’ life.

If we’re going to follow Jesus, we’re to do the same: Divest ourselves of all special privileges and humble ourselves to become like a slave to others, serving them without expectation of anything in return. We’re to always live our lives in direct obedience to God Himself.

Any changes that you need to make, either in mindset or action or both? Yeah, me too. Today is the best day to start. Let’s do it!

It’s true that we don’t often think about who Jesus was before He came as Emmanuel, God with us. When we recognize who Jesus is, then we can begin to comprehend what He did in coming here, it wasn’t just that He became a man. He willingly set aside all the honor and glory that was His to become just like us and not only just like us, He went the step further to become like the worst of us.

To think of all that He left behind when He stepped out of glory onto this planet, to think of all He was, what He could have commanded to happen, but didn’t, so that He would be able to remain and become that sacrifice for us allows us the opportunity to recognize just how big His love for us is. Maybe we need to visit that insight more often.

On that point about murder: I think we need to get that understanding in our minds, it was not the Jews who murdered Jesus. It was not the Roman soldiers who murdered Jesus. Nobody murdered Jesus. He willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice for you, for me.

Yes, in Acts Peter talked to the Jews, and said “you guys did this” because it was at their hands that Jesus became the sacrifice. But no one took Him. He didn’t have to be taken. He could have just stood His ground and spoken their annihilation, but He did not. He willingly went. He willingly submitted to their authority. He willingly took that cross and the beatings and everything, because He wanted to rescue us from the penalty of our sins. Wow!

When we put together where He was with where He came to walk and live with what He endured because of that, we get just a glimpse into how much He loves us–how much He loves you. I hope you’ll receive that. Today’s the day it is a great day to start looking at how much He truly loves us and how we can divest ourselves–to have our special privileges, anything that we think makes us better than anybody else, and become like He did, humbled and like a slave to others, serving without expectation. There’s so many times we serve as though we’re going to get something out of it. We need to stop that. Our mindset needs to be on serving, period. I’m not serving so I get a t shirt. I’m not serving so I get money. I’m not serving–

Now, there’s nothing wrong with working for a living, we’re supposed to do that, hear me on that. But the serving, the ministry, the helping other people in the areas that God has gifted us to? When we do that we may end up with a reward, we may get the t shirt, we may get money, that’s up to God, but our mindset, our heartset, needs to be: I am serving, period. I’m going to do this work whether anybody recognizes me or not. I’m going to do this whether anybody notices or not. I’m going to do this, whether I get paid or not. We need to get to that place. And we don’t need to just get to the mindset of it, we need to get to the action of it. We can do it. You can do it. I know you can. I believe in you, but better than that God himself believes in you, and He is for you.

Coffee, Bible, Journal.

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