Focus

Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything other than God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word.

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Read

Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

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Reflect

Sometimes it seems like too much to hope that I could ever consistently have the attitude of Jesus Christ. I’m just too human, too ordinary. My flaws get the best of me time and time again. Little frustrations distract me too easily. I read these words in Philippians, describing a man who humbled himself to the point of laying his life down for the world. How on earth can I measure up to that?

But maybe, just maybe, it’s not about measuring up to anything. Maybe it’s about letting something—Someone—take my mind, my spirit, my emotions, and remake me into something I could never be on my own. Maybe it’s about letting that happen instead of trying to make it happen. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Letting something be is not making something happen. It’s just letting it be.

I’m pretty sure that I will never be fully satisfied with my efforts—even my efforts not to make such an effort. My guess is that’s true for most of us. But may we always be willing to aim for that goal—letting the mind of Christ be in us.

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Pray

God help us all to let the mind of Christ be in us, for his glory, and in his name. Amen.

Go with God.