www.bible.com/111/php.2.7-8.niv
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge the Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.-Philippians 2:5-11
In this passage from Philippians Paul spells out some very important things that we need to know about Jesus. The first thing he tells us is that Jesus was and is God in the flesh. Jesus and God are one and the same. That is what Paul means when he writes that Jesus was in his very nature God. The second thing that Paul tells us is that Jesus did not use his exalted status as being one and the same with God for his own advantage. Jesus was born to the lowest the class of people, in back water town of back water region of the Roman Empire. Furthermore he never used his status as being the same as God to browbeat people, instead he became like a servant showing them God’s way by loving them and caring for them right where they were. The third thing we are told is that Jesus was obedient to God. Jesus knew what God’s plan was all along. He knew that God’s redemptive plan for the world could only be fulfilled through his death on the cross. However, he still could have chosen to not be obedient to the Father and chosen to do things his way. The last thing we learn is that because of Jesus’ obedience and his willingness to die for your sins and my sins he has returned to his place at God’s right hand and that one day at the very name of Jesus every knee will and very tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
What then is the overall take from all of this? Paul begins this passage by saying that we are to have the “same mindset as Christ Jesus”. Jesus is to be out example. He is to be the one that we look to imitate. We should never let our status on earth dictate what God is able to do through us. Just as Jesus was obedient to the point death, we should be willing to obey God’s instructions and his call on for our live’s even it means facing suffering or death. We too should remember that our reward is not found here on earth, but is found in heaven. And lastly remember that even though it seems that whole world is against us at the present time, that there will come a day when every person will bow on their knees and confess Jesus Christ as Lord either willingly out of love or unwillingly out of fear from having lived a live apart from God.