Philippians 2
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Reflection:
As Christian brothers and sisters, how should we relate to one another? In Paul’s time, the Greek idea of friendship was based on the concept of social reciprocity. In other words, friends expected to “benefit” from one another by their mutual goodwill and trust. As products of that culture the Philippian Christians incorrectly carried this ‘I scratch your back and you scratch mine’ mentality into their relationships with one another. But Paul is clear and tells the Philippians that they have the wrong mindset when it comes to relationships. His encouragement to them is that they now have a new model when it comes to relating with others, and that model is Jesus Christ. Despite his status of deity, Christ’s self emptying and humility (demonstrated ultimately on the cross) teaches and empowers us to relate to one another as humble servants.
Response:
The way Christ relates to us is so different from our worldly ideas of friendship. Instead of always looking for the advantage, Jesus turned everything on its head and now calls us to be servants. Today let’s respond by praying from Philippians 2. Let us ask for forgiveness for our old ways of relating to one another and for using others for our selfish benefit. Instead let us take on the ‘mindset’ of Christ. Let’s pray that Jesus’ model of humility and servant-hood would permeate our communities.
