Thought for the day

Ephesians 5:1

Be imitators of God...

Philippians 2:5

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...

Ephesians 5:2

Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Philippians 2:6-8 (paraphrased)

...made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...humbled himself, became obedient to death

I am struck with the fact that in my humanness this is impossible. And as I roll this around in my brain, I am also struck with the first lines of each passage: "be..."! Not "try" or "do your best", but rather the command "be" and "be the same as".



So how does it work? How can I be like the perfect and holy God? How can I be the same as Christ Jesus in my attitude?



As I read the second part of the passages above a concept that strikes me is surrender. For Jesus, he surrendered his very life. I also see the need to live a life of love, as well as the need to serve others-putting others before ourselves. But even breaking it down like that, there are moments when even this seems impossible.



I think that it will only be through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can live in this way. We have to be willing to live this way and then surrender ourselves and our will to the Holy Spirit and allow him to change us. When this change happens we will then live with love, as a servant, fully surrendered to God and His plan for us.



For more study on this lifestyle change, here are some more passages to look at: 2 Peter 1:5-7, Galatians 5:16-25, Colossians 3:12-17.