Christ should also give himself for others (Matthew 25:31-46). Care for another person is at the very heart of one's own right relation ship with the Lord. All rebellion against Cod is in evitably linked to a corresponding disregard for others. It is a tragedy when you find a believer who is exceedingly selfish, caring only for his own things and interests. This is devastating and doubtless heart breaking to Cod Himself. Instead of exhalting Himself, which the Saviour had every right to do, He rather emptied Himself of all out ward aspects of His glory, becom ing a man so that He might win men to Himself (Philippians 2:5- 11). What a tremendous, even in explicable, humbling truth. He lived a life of purity in a world of im purity. Imagine yourself stepping for an hour into the lowest moral envi ronment anywhere in the world. Come into the company of those who promote debilitating drugs, those who are prostitutes, homo sexuals, and even hardened crim inals awaiting execution, living in the midst of a world of devastating sin which you had never known before. This is what Jesus Christ did when He came to this earth. You know, a great deal of sen timental emotion has grown up around the cross over these last 20 centuries. In actuality, the cross was the symbol of the most se vere suffering ever known. The victims died from exposure, from slow suffocation caused by the muscle fatigue in the diaphragm. Yet Jesus, knowing all of this, faced it absolutely without any flinching. Jesus did not relish all these things. They were as dreadful to Him as
they would have been to us. Yet He endured them, denying Him self for our sakes. How thankful we ought to be that He did not look first on His own things. He thought about others before He thought of Himself. First of all, we have to admit that in ourselves we really do not care for others. Left to our own devices, we would always take the devil's choice. That is why we need to be cultivated and motivated by the Holy Spirit. Down deep we are really filled with pride. We need to experience hum ility before the Lord. Peter reminds us of this fact, too (I Peter 5:5, 6). It may be that you have rea soned that if you humble yourself before Cod, admitting the worth of the Lord, you have every right to expect that other people should be humble before you. Unfortun ately, it does not work that way. You have to keep your eyes on Christ rather than man. This is why there has to be daily fellowship with the Lord. It is the only way you can ever be what God desires of you. He is the source of our life and we must always stay close to the origin if we are going to real ize fruitfulness in our service for Him. One of the greatest sections of the Bible, perhaps the most out standing when it deals with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, is Phil ippians 2:5-11. It would be an ex tremely profitable spiritual exercise if you would seek to memorize that for your own spiritual welfare. Nowhere will you find words of deeper meaning or of greater spir itual depth. Here the Apostle Paul is talking about Jesus of Nazareth who lived only a generation earlier
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