Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing their song … I Want To Be Just Like You, expressing the desire, like a son to his father, to become just like our Heavenly Father, … i.e., into the image of our Lord, Jesus.
Highlight Passage: Philippians 2:3-4 [NKJV] …
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. …
… And that’s true humility … just as Christ was humble (see v. 8)
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Highlight Context – Philippians 2: 1-11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Christ showed the way of humility for us all to follow
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Reference Passage #1 … Matthew 11: 29 [NKJV] …
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle [i.e., “meek] and lowly in heart [i.e., “humble”], and you will find rest for your souls.
… The only way we can find rest is to be like Christ … “meek and humble!”
Reference Passage #2 … Luke 9: 23 [NKJV] …
23 Then He said to them all [His followers] … If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.
… To be like Christ we must humble our selves and follow Him in Christlikeness.
Reference Passage #3 … John 14:21 [NKJV] …
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
… Christlikeness means showing our love for Him by being obedient to Him.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Jennifer Benson Schuldt, uses a story of mountaineering to illustrate a teaching about Christlikeness, writing … Tibetan-born Sherpa Nawang Gombu and American Jim Whittaker reached the top of Mount Everest on May 1, 1963. As they approached the peak, each considered the honor of being the first of the two to step to the summit. Whittaker motioned for Gombu to move ahead, but Gombu declined with a smile, saying, “You first, Big Jim!” Finally, they decided to step to the summit at the same time.
Schuldt’s story, of course, illustrates the quality of humility, … i.e., putting the needs of others first. And that was what the Apostle Paul was crediting his Christian friends in Philippi with when he wrote his thank-you letter to them (see highlight passages above from Philippians 2).
If I were to ask you, as a disciple of Christ, “Do you want to be like Christ?” You would, of course, respond, “Certainly;” … wouldn’t you? Well, fellow Christian, where do we start to become more like Christ tomorrow than today … and more like Him today than yesterday?
Well, I think a good place to start would be to become like the way our Lord described Himself; and that is only found in Matthew 11:29 where one can find the only adjectives Jesus was every quoted describing Himself; and in that passage (above) you see He said that He was “meek” and “humble.” In other words, He, HIMSELF, was saying that His followers could follow Him (see Luke 9:23) by doing all they could to deny themselves and to be humble and meek themselves - just like Him [see above song].
Okay, … we want to be like Christ, as Christians, don’t we? Well, my friend, there’s where we start; and I - for one - need to take stock of at least those two qualities of Christlikeness [meekness and humility] to be more like Him tomorrow than today. How about you?
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, … Help me to be more like You tomorrow than today! Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
1 comment:
Well said. Mother Teresa once said the route to humility is humiliation (paraphrased).
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