"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3:23).
Duty, responsibility, obedience: what onerous words! One person goes to war, another to the kitchen, another to his or her desk at the office and another to the classroom. Each is to work enthusiastically, dependably and honorably. We cannot do it all, much as some of us would like to do much more, but we can do our fragment of the whole work. We join the work of others who have gone before us and will come after us. Our duty is to do our part resolutely and satisfactorily. It is useless to fret over what we are unable to do, for we all have limitations. Another part is another's responsibility, and it is waiting for that person, just as our work waits for us.
Sometimes it seems impossible to get started on the day's work. Dwight L. Moody gives advice that might help: "Some say if only my fears and doubts will leave then I will get to work. But instead you should get to work and then your fears and doubts will leave." Samuel Johnson gives a sage suggestion, also: "Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance." And Ruskin tells us: "Every noble life leaves its fiber interwoven forever in the work of the world."
"...A great door for effective work has opened..." (1 Corinthians 16:9). Each day is that door. We can forget about yesterday and its laziness and failure. "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Being confident is the secret to the success of working for God and not for men. God knows about the perspiration and perseverance. We can place our trust in Him to know our strengths and weaknesses and how much we can do. Relatives and friends are not always so merciful!
The following is from the Pulpit Commentary, Colossians 3. The commentary uses words that we no longer consider useful or politically correct (obedience, servant [spiritual servanthood], master, etc.):
I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRUE SERVANT’S SERVICE.
It is marked by:
1. Obedience. Engaged for given duties, do them. Refusal to do them, neglect in doing them, is immoral, irreligious. You cannot be a good Christian and a bad servant.
2. Thoroughness. Not “eye service.” This happy expression is probably the apostle’s coinage. It describes obedience that is superficial, inconstant, and hollow.
3. Simplicity of motive. “Singleness of heart.” Not having two purposes nor secondary aims.
4. Earnestness. “Do it heartily.” Whatsoever ye do, work at it. The lazy and lethargic are repulsive, the enthusiastic are noble.
II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRUE MASTER’S MASTERSHIP.
The duties of a master are as clearly enforced as those of the servant. “The same light tempers various colours; so the same principle regulates various duties.”
There is claimed from the master:
1. Justice. That is, what the law demands, what is legally right and square. There is, however, much more.
2. Equity. “What is equal.” Equity is more than law, more than legal claim. It is a liberal interpretation of justice in common matters; a response to the intuition of what is right, even though no law defined it or enforced it. It was this teaching about equity that was really the insertion of the leaven that has destroyed slavery in Christendom. What is the touchstone of this equity? Surely this golden rule, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even the same to them likewise.”
III. THE MOTIVES BOTH OF TRUE SERVICE AND OF TRUE MASTERSHIP.
The motives put before both masters and servants are two.
1. They both sustain a common relationship to Christ.
(1) All are his servants. Servants, “Ye serve the Lord Christ;” masters, “Ye also have a Master in heaven.”
(2) All work is done in his sight. Therefore do it “fearing God.”
(3) All may be done for his glory. “There is no respect of persons.”
2. Christ will rightly deal out retribution and reward. With Christ is “the reward of the inheritance.” From Christ men shall receive for “the wrong which they have done.”
Our conclusion is:
1. Cherish a Christian ambition to serve well.
2. Cherish a Christian ambition to rule well. U. R.T.
Friday, February 17, 2012
The Cost of Children - Anonymous
I read this several years ago and I am sure the cost has risen greatly. We had five sons born during the '50s and '60s, and I cannot even think of what it would cost just to feed them today. But as I reread this wonderful devotion on what we receive as parents, I am again impressed that life is enriched beyond measure with our children. One of the saddest observations in an obituary is no children! pen
===
The government has calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition!
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be "rich." It is just the opposite.
What do your get for your $160,140?
Naming rights, --- First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God everyday.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to fingerprint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land, and wishing on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel You get to be immortal.
You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
You have all the power to heal a booboo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.
Enjoy your children.
===
The government has calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition!
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you want to be "rich." It is just the opposite.
What do your get for your $160,140?
Naming rights, --- First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God everyday.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to fingerprint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney Land, and wishing on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.
For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel You get to be immortal.
You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
You have all the power to heal a booboo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.
Enjoy your children.
God waits, too
"Wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:14).
"Waiting has four purposes. It practices the patience of faith. It gives time for preparation for the coming gift. It makes the blessing the sweeter when it arrives. It shows the sovereignty of God to give just when and as He pleases." Dr. James Vaughan, Streams in the Desert.
There is also a condition attached to our waiting: "Don't be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing" (Psalm 37:34 RSV). We are to attend to the little duties as well as to the large ones. Wait and work; pray for grace and then exercise it.
It is interesting that God also waits: "Then he waited for the harvest" (Isaiah 5:2 RSV). He waits for us to consider His nature which proves His intelligence and beauty and goodness; He waits for us to reflect on history threaded through and held together with His justice and mercy. He waits for us to realize that the alternates of adversity and prosperity, friendship and enmity, sorrow and joy, are but the instruments of His spiritual instruction that we may finally dwell in the mansions He has already prepared for us.
We waste much time waiting for signs and wonders. Christ told the expectant crowd, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign" (Luke 11:29). In our day of the Gospel, which is filled with the plainest evidence of God’s care for us, we do not need to use a flashlight to shine it on the Son who is the Light of the world and we don't need to dump in our buckets of contaminated water to add to the Living Water. To ask for signs from God when He has already pledged numerous promises is to tell God we are ungrateful and undeserving.
The duty of waiting:
The Christian soldier is long in learning to wait.
Marching and countermarching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the willing spirit anxiously desires to serve, but knows not how. Shall it vex itself by despair? fly back in cowardice? turn aside in fear? rush forward in presumption? No; simply wait; but
I. WAIT IN PRAYER. Call upon God; spread the case before Him; tell Him the difficulty; plead His promises.
II. WAIT IN SIMPLICITY OF SOUL. In dilemmas it is sweet to be humble as a child. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our folly, and are willing to be guided by God’s will.
III. WAIT IN FAITH. Express unwavering confidence; for unfaithful, untrusting confidence is an insult to the Lord. Believe that though He keeps us tarrying He will come at the right time and will not tarry.
IV. WAIT IN QUIET PATIENCE. Not rebelling under the affliction, but blessing God for it; nor murmuring against second causes, as the children of Israel against Moses; nor wishing to go back to the world again; but accepting the case as it stands, and putting it simply and whole-heartedly into the hands of our covenant God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
"Waiting has four purposes. It practices the patience of faith. It gives time for preparation for the coming gift. It makes the blessing the sweeter when it arrives. It shows the sovereignty of God to give just when and as He pleases." Dr. James Vaughan, Streams in the Desert.
There is also a condition attached to our waiting: "Don't be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing" (Psalm 37:34 RSV). We are to attend to the little duties as well as to the large ones. Wait and work; pray for grace and then exercise it.
It is interesting that God also waits: "Then he waited for the harvest" (Isaiah 5:2 RSV). He waits for us to consider His nature which proves His intelligence and beauty and goodness; He waits for us to reflect on history threaded through and held together with His justice and mercy. He waits for us to realize that the alternates of adversity and prosperity, friendship and enmity, sorrow and joy, are but the instruments of His spiritual instruction that we may finally dwell in the mansions He has already prepared for us.
We waste much time waiting for signs and wonders. Christ told the expectant crowd, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign" (Luke 11:29). In our day of the Gospel, which is filled with the plainest evidence of God’s care for us, we do not need to use a flashlight to shine it on the Son who is the Light of the world and we don't need to dump in our buckets of contaminated water to add to the Living Water. To ask for signs from God when He has already pledged numerous promises is to tell God we are ungrateful and undeserving.
The duty of waiting:
The Christian soldier is long in learning to wait.
Marching and countermarching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the willing spirit anxiously desires to serve, but knows not how. Shall it vex itself by despair? fly back in cowardice? turn aside in fear? rush forward in presumption? No; simply wait; but
I. WAIT IN PRAYER. Call upon God; spread the case before Him; tell Him the difficulty; plead His promises.
II. WAIT IN SIMPLICITY OF SOUL. In dilemmas it is sweet to be humble as a child. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our folly, and are willing to be guided by God’s will.
III. WAIT IN FAITH. Express unwavering confidence; for unfaithful, untrusting confidence is an insult to the Lord. Believe that though He keeps us tarrying He will come at the right time and will not tarry.
IV. WAIT IN QUIET PATIENCE. Not rebelling under the affliction, but blessing God for it; nor murmuring against second causes, as the children of Israel against Moses; nor wishing to go back to the world again; but accepting the case as it stands, and putting it simply and whole-heartedly into the hands of our covenant God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God Has A Plan, Too!
"Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?" (Proverbs 20:24 TLB); "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow..." (James 4:14,15).
We can propose what we think is a logical plan and God can dispose of it very quickly. The story of Joseph illustrates this well. At the request of his father Jacob, Joseph proposed to spend a few days finding his brothers to see if all was well with them; instead, when he finally found them, they disposed of him by selling him for twenty shekels.
We can only imagine what Joseph endured physically and mentally. God directed Joseph's steps into slavery in a strange land, then to a prison -- and then, because of Joseph's integrity through all this, "[Pharaoh] made [Joseph] master of his household, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom" (Psalm 105:21,22). All Joseph did that fateful day was set out to find out how his brothers were. In a matter of minutes his whole life was changed.
"It was not you who sent me here, but God" (Genesis 45:8); "`You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good ... So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them" (Genesis 50:20,21). Joseph's brothers had acted out of jealousy and animosity, and now their hopes and lives depended on this little brother who they had treated so cruelly. Joseph brought good from evil, light from darkness, and sweet from bitter (Isaiah 5:20); what a grand story of forgiveness and victory over what seemed sure hostility and defeat.
Just as Joseph's life was altered within moments, so ours could be this very day. What a comfort it is to know that God is directing our steps and that it isn't necessary to our salvation or happiness, even, to understand the circumstances in our lives. What is necessary is our faith in the kindly providence of a God who understands and wills to bring good from what we think is evil in our lives.
We can propose what we think is a logical plan and God can dispose of it very quickly. The story of Joseph illustrates this well. At the request of his father Jacob, Joseph proposed to spend a few days finding his brothers to see if all was well with them; instead, when he finally found them, they disposed of him by selling him for twenty shekels.
We can only imagine what Joseph endured physically and mentally. God directed Joseph's steps into slavery in a strange land, then to a prison -- and then, because of Joseph's integrity through all this, "[Pharaoh] made [Joseph] master of his household, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom" (Psalm 105:21,22). All Joseph did that fateful day was set out to find out how his brothers were. In a matter of minutes his whole life was changed.
"It was not you who sent me here, but God" (Genesis 45:8); "`You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good ... So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them" (Genesis 50:20,21). Joseph's brothers had acted out of jealousy and animosity, and now their hopes and lives depended on this little brother who they had treated so cruelly. Joseph brought good from evil, light from darkness, and sweet from bitter (Isaiah 5:20); what a grand story of forgiveness and victory over what seemed sure hostility and defeat.
Just as Joseph's life was altered within moments, so ours could be this very day. What a comfort it is to know that God is directing our steps and that it isn't necessary to our salvation or happiness, even, to understand the circumstances in our lives. What is necessary is our faith in the kindly providence of a God who understands and wills to bring good from what we think is evil in our lives.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
A Lily Among Thorns
"Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens" (Song of Solomon 2:2).
The lily is beautiful, simple, pure and fragrant; the thorn is unsightly, sharp and barren. The world is divided between the lilies and the thorns; the believers and unbelievers, the regenerates and degenerates, the constructs and destructs. We ask ourselves which are we, lilies or thorns? Are we clothed with the graces of His Holy Spirit, the ornaments of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23) or are we bound in a corset of the disgraces of the unholy spirit?
We are advised: "Do not be afraid, though briars and thorns are all around you..." (Ezekiel 2:6b). Certainly Jesus was surrounded by thorns and was even crowned with them: "They...twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him" (Mark 15:17). The prophet Micah laments, "The best of them (us!) is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge" (Micah 7:4). We all crown Jesus time and again with bristles and barbs, sins that crucify Him again and again because He loves us so.
The lily and the thorn grow and thrive in the same soil. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). God's generosity seems unfair, but only God knows when a thorn can convert into a fair flower. It may take more sunshine from those who profess to receive Light from the Son.
The lily stays soft and pure; the thorn becomes hard and causes pain. There is that inside each of us which causes us to react to the outside elements differently. What a beautiful lesson for us. God's grace dignifies us that we may flourish as the lily rather than make thorns of our surroundings because we lack decency and graciousness. "I will be like...dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily" (Hosea 14:5). The dew of God's love makes us gentle and beautiful and fruitful lilies in His valley.
The lily is beautiful, simple, pure and fragrant; the thorn is unsightly, sharp and barren. The world is divided between the lilies and the thorns; the believers and unbelievers, the regenerates and degenerates, the constructs and destructs. We ask ourselves which are we, lilies or thorns? Are we clothed with the graces of His Holy Spirit, the ornaments of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23) or are we bound in a corset of the disgraces of the unholy spirit?
We are advised: "Do not be afraid, though briars and thorns are all around you..." (Ezekiel 2:6b). Certainly Jesus was surrounded by thorns and was even crowned with them: "They...twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him" (Mark 15:17). The prophet Micah laments, "The best of them (us!) is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge" (Micah 7:4). We all crown Jesus time and again with bristles and barbs, sins that crucify Him again and again because He loves us so.
The lily and the thorn grow and thrive in the same soil. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). God's generosity seems unfair, but only God knows when a thorn can convert into a fair flower. It may take more sunshine from those who profess to receive Light from the Son.
The lily stays soft and pure; the thorn becomes hard and causes pain. There is that inside each of us which causes us to react to the outside elements differently. What a beautiful lesson for us. God's grace dignifies us that we may flourish as the lily rather than make thorns of our surroundings because we lack decency and graciousness. "I will be like...dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily" (Hosea 14:5). The dew of God's love makes us gentle and beautiful and fruitful lilies in His valley.
Impossible?
"Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30). "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).
The brooders are the losers. In this passage of faith in the book of Numbers – and fright of numbers – Caleb dares to go against the majority and declare that the land is theirs if they act right away. He wasn’t about to give in to the pessimists who saw only the giants. God had already promised them the land anyway: "The Lord said to Moses,`Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.'" The others walked by sight, Caleb by faith. The land that "does flow with milk and honey!" (V.27) suddenly, through fear, became a land that "devours those living in it." (V.32). "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:33).
The more they thought about it, the more they perceived themselves to be grasshoppers. They saw the same land as did Joshua and Caleb, but they didn't see the opportunities. Their grasshopper mentality stopped them short of possession. But God promised, and "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14). When God tells us plainly what our duty is through circumstances and people, then we are foolish to dwell on what we perceive to be difficulties. He has promised to cover all our problems. Through prayer and faith, we can translate our grasshopper mentality into the mind of Christ with all the potentials that are ours. God wants us to see life in His light of possibilities. After all,"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"(Hebrews 13:6). Our impossible becomes Himpossible!
The brooders are the losers. In this passage of faith in the book of Numbers – and fright of numbers – Caleb dares to go against the majority and declare that the land is theirs if they act right away. He wasn’t about to give in to the pessimists who saw only the giants. God had already promised them the land anyway: "The Lord said to Moses,`Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.'" The others walked by sight, Caleb by faith. The land that "does flow with milk and honey!" (V.27) suddenly, through fear, became a land that "devours those living in it." (V.32). "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:33).
The more they thought about it, the more they perceived themselves to be grasshoppers. They saw the same land as did Joshua and Caleb, but they didn't see the opportunities. Their grasshopper mentality stopped them short of possession. But God promised, and "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14). When God tells us plainly what our duty is through circumstances and people, then we are foolish to dwell on what we perceive to be difficulties. He has promised to cover all our problems. Through prayer and faith, we can translate our grasshopper mentality into the mind of Christ with all the potentials that are ours. God wants us to see life in His light of possibilities. After all,"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"(Hebrews 13:6). Our impossible becomes Himpossible!
Servants
"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ..." (James 1:1); "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus..." (Romans 1:1); "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21).
In a speech on May 30, 1919, Woodrow Wilson said, "There is something better, if possible, that a man can give than his life. That is his living spirit to a service that is not easy, to resist counsels that are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that are difficult to stand against." Jesus gave His life but few of us are required to do that; it is our life in service that He asks.
To be a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ means to be a servant to humankind. It is more than "I'll do you a favor if you do me a favor." It is seeking the happiness and welfare of others in spite of how they feel about us – even if they are hostile and ungrateful –" because he [the Lord Jesus Christ] is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35c).
James was a bondservant to Christ, bound in freedom because he had made a loving surrender of his will to God's will. James found this service to be his true freedom. Perhaps James is telling his readers that he wishes his very character to be known as that of servant. The word "servant" is in disrepute today, but it simply means one who gives service. There is nothing disgraceful or demeaning about helping others.
We are his,
To serve him nobly in the common cause,
True to the death, but not to be his slaves.
Cowper
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus ... [He] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Philippians 2:5,7). This is an eternal mystery, that God became a servant! And the servant is not better than the master.
In a speech on May 30, 1919, Woodrow Wilson said, "There is something better, if possible, that a man can give than his life. That is his living spirit to a service that is not easy, to resist counsels that are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that are difficult to stand against." Jesus gave His life but few of us are required to do that; it is our life in service that He asks.
To be a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ means to be a servant to humankind. It is more than "I'll do you a favor if you do me a favor." It is seeking the happiness and welfare of others in spite of how they feel about us – even if they are hostile and ungrateful –" because he [the Lord Jesus Christ] is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35c).
James was a bondservant to Christ, bound in freedom because he had made a loving surrender of his will to God's will. James found this service to be his true freedom. Perhaps James is telling his readers that he wishes his very character to be known as that of servant. The word "servant" is in disrepute today, but it simply means one who gives service. There is nothing disgraceful or demeaning about helping others.
We are his,
To serve him nobly in the common cause,
True to the death, but not to be his slaves.
Cowper
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus ... [He] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Philippians 2:5,7). This is an eternal mystery, that God became a servant! And the servant is not better than the master.
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