Less Self
If it had been me, I would have gotten down. From the cross, that is. Now I can’t speak for you. But there’s no doubt I would have jumped down, screamed for reinforcements, given in, given up, called it off and gotten out of there.
But that’s me. Thankfully, that’s not Jesus.
Every year around Easter when everyone else is focussing on the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, I get stuck in Philippians 2. You know, that passage about how we should have Jesus’ attitude, putting other’s interests above our own. Jesus didn’t grasp at what was rightfully His. He gave it up. The one who is EVERYTHING made himself NOTHING to serve you and to serve me.
Servanthood cost Christ his life. He obeyed even to the point of death so we could have His life. If you see it for what it is, the Gospel is ridiculous. God’s love is absurd, unbelievable really. Seriously, WHO would do something like this? Not me. I’ve always thought of myself as a nice guy. But no way, I wouldn’t die for someone else. Maybe I’d have the guts to lay down my life for my wife or my son, but not for you, definitely not for people who hated me. Amazingly enough, God would and did. Romans 5:8 says Christ showed His love, dying for us when we were still sinners.
As selfish people we understand the value of what the cross accomplished. We were given life when we deserved death. We like grace, because we get something out of it. Mercy is good too. We really don’t want to deal with the consequences of our actions. Love is nice, we like to be cared for, noticed, accepted, and embraced.
The place where the gospel gets tricky is in imitation. We’re very comfortable with the way God has treated us, but trying to live like Jesus, that’s hard. Having a positive attitude is one thing, have the same attitude that led Christ to the cross is whole ‘nother ball of wax. Yet here in Philippians 2:3-5 we are told to live this way. What matters to you, should matter to me. You must come before me. Less self and more Jesus means I must care more about you and less about me. Romans 12:10 echoes Philippians 2, and tells us to honor others above ourselves. Not only are we to act in a way that puts others first, we are to value others more highly than we value our very selves.
I told you, this stuff is absurd. It’s nuts. Who, besides Jesus could possibly live this way? Believe it or not, we can. As I tell students, God never commands us to do anything that He doesn’t also promise to give us the strength, ability, will, wisdom and power to do. This still doesn’t make it any easier. Being self-less is contradictory to everything we know and value.
Yet every Easter we stare at that cross through teary lenses. We raise our hands, lift our voices and praise the One who did live like that, the selfless savior we adore. Jesus knew the cost going in, and His love propelled Him. He told us to count the cost too. So, what’s it going to be? Will our love for Christ propel us to live selflessly? Will we let go of our self-ward focus and live like Him? May we live like the master: less self, more serve.
