“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”  (Philippians 2:8)

there are two words in that brief sentence that we are not really fond of, actually three.  The first two are:

1.) HUMBLED
2.) OBEDIENT

We don’t like to be humbled, and we don’t particularly like obedience.  Don’t feel too bad about it, you’re not alone.  In fact, it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden!  It’s part of our human condition!  We don’t like someone else telling us what to do!

And what about the third word … do you think I’m going to say “Death?” … that’s a possibility.  But actually the third word that I think we aren’t fond of is:

3.) MAN

We don’t like our human limitations at all!  In fact, “Death” is part of that human condition.  No, we would rather be God.  In fact, this is the root of our dislike of the other words in the sentence.  As man (human), we would rather be God and be in control of the things of our lives, and even the whole world.

No, we don’t like being Man, Humbled or Obedient one bit. And that’s what makes Jesus’ venture to take on our human flesh, humble himself, and be obedient even to death on a cross all that much more amazing!  The all powerful creator God of the universe … the one who makes all the rules!! … subjected Himself to humility and obedience and death … FOR … US!

We pray: Thank you Jesus that you were willing to endure our human condition so that we would one day be able to stand in the presence of God!  Amen.