Equality With God, By Sarah Tummey.

As we begin the season of Lent, Sarah has produced a series of devotionals, and has kindly agreed to share them with us all.

Today is the first Tuesday in Lent – a season where the church spends forty days (or more, if you count Sundays) reflecting on all that Jesus went through for us. Much like Advent prepares us to celebrate Christmas, Lent takes us towards Easter when we remember Jesus’ death on a cross and God raising Him from the dead. Some people use this time to abstain from something, in order to identify with Jesus’ disciplined lifestyle.

Can you think of anything Jesus gave up that sticks out to you? The first on my list is equality with God. “In your life together, think the way Christ Jesus thought. He was like God in every way, but He did not think that His being equal with God was something to use for His own benefit. Instead, He gave up everything, even His place with God. He accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form. During His life as a man, He humbled Himself by being fully obedient to God, even when that caused His death – death on a cross. So God raised Him up to the most important place and gave Him the name that is greater than any other name. God did this so that every person will bow down to honour the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow. They will all confess, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ and this will bring glory to God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).

In heaven Jesus must have had so many privileges, the most amazing being His nearness to His father. I like the old-fashioned translation of John 1:18. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” That phrase, ‘In the bosom of the Father’, paints a picture of Jesus very close to God’s heart. There was an intimacy, but Jesus didn’t hold onto that position because there was something more important: Making known to us what God is like.

Can you imagine having all of God’s qualities? Being all-knowing? Seeing how your life’s going to pan out before it’s even begun, but still leaving your security because you put others before yourself? I don’t think I could do that, but Jesus has done it for us, and He’s reaped the reward. God’s now lifted Him up to the most important place so that when we honour Jesus, we also bring glory to God.

Let’s thank Jesus for being so devoted to us that He would come down to earth. Instead of holding onto His divine kingship, He accepted the role of a servant, even washing people’s feet. He’s more than worthy of our love.

To read more from Sarah, please visit her blog.
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