It is particularly appropriate, I realized just this minute, that our discussion in Sunday School this week touched on Jesus and the ways in which he relinquished the very things that spark our self-talk: Power, Position, Self-protection, and Self-promotion. This very week we celebrate that relinquishing. Think of it anew: the God who created the universe and the law which sustains it, the one with all power, gave it up for us. Philippians 2 tells the whole story. "Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And we, who crave power and control, who want to take on the form of God in the lives of others, who love positions and promotions, are the recipients of the mercy that required that relinquishing. He did not protect himself, though he had the power to do so. Instead, he protected us. Just look in the Garden of Gethsemane.
John 18:7-9 tells us that Jesus stood between the soldiers and his disciples, demanding that they take him and let the others go. "So, if you seek me, let these men go." This is our great I AM, the God of the burning bush, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, bending to the status of created beings, protecting us here, so that he would not lose one of those God gave him.
Meditate on this truth as you celebrate his first coming as one of us; think on this: your life is hidden with Christ in God, hidden in this one who saves and protects you by giving up his own protection. And have this mind in yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus, this mind that relinquishes. This Christmas, maybe we can let go of our desire for power and protection, and hide ourselves in our Savior. Merry Christmas.
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