Look to the Interests of Others

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

Philippians 2:1-8  The Message

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.

For Reflection
Attitudes of selflessness, humility, and servitude lead us to positions of subordinance.  Some folks would agree that a subordinate position is a position of powerlessness.  But, they confuse dominance and subordination with positions of power.  Power and dominance are not synonymous.  "Ask and you shall receive" illustrates a submissive position but it is non-the-less a position of power.

Fighting dominance with dominance is always a losing proposition.  The dominant person can exercise control only insofar as the other person is willing to give him or her the power to do so. Find creative ways to avoid domination by substituting defensiveness with supportivness.  Power is held by those who are led.

Pray
to discover ways to achieve mutually satisfactory ends as an alternative to aggressive defensiveness.  Pray for creativity in the face of untoward action.