03/20/2008
5 Make your own attitude [like] that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God also highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Siddhartha Gautama was a prince in a wealthy ruling family in India. He grew up in opulence and needed for nothing. Siddhartha Gautama is also known as Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. From his palace, he contemplated the causes and cures for suffering.
Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was married to a wealthy widow when he formulated the ideas now followed by nearly 2 billion people. Rather than working, he wandered in the desert mingling Christian ideas with Judaism to derive an Arab-centered religion.
Helena Blavatski, the founder of Theosophy, the religion observed by Hitler and many others, was born to a wealthy ruling Russian family in the late 1800s. She was also funded by wealthy would-be suitors as she traveled abroad and developed her all-inclusive religious ideas.
Jesus, on the other hand, came as a servant—that is, the lowest family of the lowest clan. He did not come from a wealthy family, nor a family of any influence. But by contrast to these named above, Jesus had the right to be called higher than any of them. He was purely God and purely human, but when He took on human form, He did not parade His divinity, but mingled among the weak, the sick, the depressed, and the hungry. He truly experienced the human experience.
Can a person who has never needed for anything relate to the desperation of the human experience? Can a woman who never had to work a day of her life really grasp what it means to need a savior? And for that matter, can any “religion” formulated out of the mind of man ever capture what it means to draw near to God?
Only God can describe what He desires and who He is. We must learn to look to Him for our patterns of worship and lifestyle. Because, no matter what anyone believes or practices, one day, everyone will know that Jesus is the Lord of all and they will have no choice but to bow and acknowledge Him—not Buddha, Mohammed, Helena Blavatski, or any other religious leader. Only Jesus is Lord.
Why not humble yourself before Him today?
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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