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Philippians 2:5 says let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, but what does that mean? It means to have that same mindset or way of thinking that Jesus had. This is no easy task because when we look at the mindset of Jesus it was a mindset of, grace, mercy, humility, and love we are called to have the same mindset. The difficulty comes in the fact that in our world today the things that Jesus focused on are not seen as virtues but weaknesses. Grace is something that is freely given it cannot be eared and is undeserved. In our culture we are taught that you cannot get something for nothing, yet if we are going to have the same mindset as Jesus then we must have a mindset of grace, and that means that we have to be willing to freely give grace to other without any expectation of anything in return. Mercy is withholding punishment that is deserved. God in his mercy has withheld his judgment from us, and if we are going to have the same mindset as Jesus we need to be merciful. The problem is that we have been taught that mercy is a weakness. Humility is a lack of pride and arrogance and the quality of being courteously respectful of others, to put others first. In modern times it has come to mean soft or having low self-worth. Jesus had a mindset of humility, but he was not soft and he did not have low self-worth. He was not prideful, nor was he arrogant and his entire reason for coming to us was because he wanted to redeem creation and give all of humanity an opportunity for salvation. He put us before himself. If we are going to have the same mindset as Jesus, we must have a mindset of humility.
It is important for all us who are Christians to strive to have the same mindset as Jesus and it is extremely important for those in leadership within the Christian community to do this because leaders set the example. Leaders must show grace and mercy and they must serve with humility. Those of us who are leaders must remember the great responsibility that comes with leadership. We must also remember that to lead is a privilege and not a right. We must be humble as our Lord was humble, and we must allow that humility to be a bulwark against our egos getting to inflated.
One final question that one might ponder is why Jesus would who sat at the right hand of the father come to earth and humble himself like he did. Why would he have a mindset of grace, mercy, and humility when he did not have to. He did it because of love. Jesus had a mindset of love, because of his love for us he gave us grace, he showed us mercy, and he humbled himself. As his people, we should also have a mindset of love. Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus also be in us. Let us be known by are grace, mercy, humility, and love.