Read Philippians 2:1-13

Read Philippians 2:1-13

Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit,^b and you have kindness and compassion for one another. ²I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. ³Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble towards one another, always considering others better than yourselves. ⁴And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own. ⁵The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:

⁶     He always had the nature of God,

but he did not think that by force he should try to remain^c equal with God.

⁷     Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had,

and took the nature of a servant.

He became like a human being

and appeared in human likeness.

⁸     He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death—his death on the cross.

⁹     For this reason God raised him to the highest place above

and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.

¹⁰   And so, in honour of the name of Jesus

all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below^d

will fall on their knees,

¹¹   and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, ¹³because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

Think

"Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you.  You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another."

Verse 1 is a beautiful description of what it means to be in Christian community; but so often Christian community can not be described like this.  How can you make your community more Christian in the way you relate to and love others?

Pray

Lord, help me to always consider others to be better than myself.

---

^b You have fellowship with the Spirit; or The Spirit has brought you into fellowship with one another.

^c remain; or become.

¹⁰ 2.10, 11: Is 45:23 (LXX)

^d world below: It was thought that the dead continued to exist in a dark world under the ground.

¹¹ 2.10, 11: Is 45:23 (LXX)