Have you ever been to a pool, and your friend gets into the water before you and says, “Wow! The water is really cold!”? How do you react to this statement? I can tell you what I do… I plunge into the pool, completely submerging myself into the water immediately. It’s the fastest way I know to acclimate myself to the water temperature.
Maybe, and clearly this is just conjecture….but maybe Jesus had the same plan…
Perhaps Gabriel returned from talking to Mary and told Jesus, “Wow! That place really stinks!”
And so, perhaps Jesus decided to just plunge Himself headlong into a place of horrible smells, so His earthly body would take it all in quickly… perhaps then later when Joseph and Mary took Him to their home, it didn’t seem so bad!
We cannot begin to fathom what Christ went through, leaving the beauty and splendor at the Father’s side, to come down to this little Hell on earth.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being. (Philippians 2:6-7a)
And that was just the beginning of His humility.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7a-8)
And that, my friends, is what real Love looks like. You and I cannot ever achieve the same level of perfect love and humility of our Lord and Savior, but we can always strive to follow His example.
We can begin to do that by remembering that nobody on this earth has any right to feel ‘better’ or ‘more deserving’ than another. We are all sinners in need of a Savior! And oh, what a Savior we have in Jesus! He performed every task the Father asked of Him in perfect and minute detail, until the victory was complete. And then we all know what happened, right?
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
#LoveMatters
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