Philippians 2

I have gotten stuck on Philippians chapter two once again. I find this happens to me quite a lot because I simply can't breeze past the idea of God emptying God's Self. I'm by no means the greatest scholar among my peers at ONU, but this is one of the concepts that has stuck with me for the past 10 years, and forms one of basis for my understanding of what we're supposed to be about.

I think humans try very hard to be like the God they serve. We spend a great deal of time rationalizing our own preferences by looking for evidence that God is just like us. Military types tend to serve the God of war and retribution, Hippies tend to serve the God of peace & love, Legalists tend to serve a God that cares very much about rules, Atheist choose not to serve a God because they don't want to adhere to a system of beliefs, etc. This is why I worry about the way some people treat John Piper's teachings... the concept of a being who is interested in their own glory is just a little too much like an invitation to be self-absorbed.

Philippians 2 tells us that God is self-emptied. Jesus (one of the more clear, tangible images we have of God) didn't demand his rights (oh Lord, how much do we demand our rights on election years such as this?)but rather made himself nothing. We're talking about the one "man" who could have been anything at all. The Good Lord could have set up any system he wanted, put in place any powerful plan he wanted, and still chose to make this Kingdom one of emptying oneself rather than trying for position. Foolishness confounds what we think of as wise.

And we are supposed to be like this. Our attitude is supposed to be like this. Our actions are supposed to be like this. What would our world be like if all christians were like this? What would our world be like if I and my close friends were like this? I pray that we can get in touch with the emptied God.