Advantages

Read It: Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

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!

      9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

         and gave him the name that is above every name,

      10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

         in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

      11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

         to the glory of God the Father.

Learn It:

I am reading a book entitled He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado, and the last chapter I read was about how Jesus allowed the crown of thorns to be placed on his head.  One of the emphases he placed on this particular form of punishment was that Jesus chose to be one of us, he chose to be fully human.  He could have chosen to stop being beaten and he could have chosen to stop the people from spitting on him and he could have chosen to have the crown not placed on his head because besides being fully human he was fully God.  As our passage says Jesus didn't use his equality with God as an advantage, he didn't use it to avoid the uncomfortable or the difficult things he had to face, but instead gave himself to the world completely and gave himself to God's will completely.  Because of his obedience God lifted him above everyone so that we all might know that the true advantage that Jesus had was a Father in Heaven that loved him more than anything.

Share It:

Obviously Jesus had a greater advantage than any of us, being God's own son, but what are the advantages that you have being born into the family you were born into?  What sorts of privileges or rights do you have automatically for being born into the family, nation, town, race etc?  I know these are some tough questions but it's good to see the advantages we have in our life.  What are some of the disadvantages that we have?  Lastly, what are the advantages we have for being Children of God? Look at the passage again and see what honor and blessing it is to be a child of God.  It's quite a wonderful thing.

Live It:

Being a child of God has advantages.  We don't like to think of it that way so maybe think of it as a gift...call it a grace.  What can you do this week with that gift of grace...with the knowledge and advantage of grace that will make someone else's day or week or life a little (or a lot) better?  Think about how you can share with someone else the advantage of a relationship with God.  There are small and big ways that we can show people how much our Father in Heaven cares for them.  Here's a suggestion:  Show them the passage above...it's quite powerful!

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Please post comments with your experience with the share it or live it part of this weeks post.  Let others know if you and your family found this useful.