“Let this mind be in you 

which was also in Christ Jesus, 

who, being in the form of God, 

did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 

but made Himself of no reputation, 

taking the form of a bondservant, 

and coming in the likeness of men.”

my twocents…

as we anxiously look around to see who might be judging our actions or watching for our mistakes, we can realize through this scripture that those cares are pointless. we can find ourselves caught wasting time worrying about what others think and fretting over our ‘image', our reputation. but the truth is that our time is better spent building up a reputation for heaven, not for the world (who really doesn’t care about us anyway). Jesus didn't care about His reputation on earth, and He never let anything, any insults, ever get to Him. if anyone has a right to exalt himself and demonstrate superior reputation, then it would be Jesus, our Lord. He is God, He is Almighty. we often think that with enough money and power, adoring fans and beautiful bodies, our troubles could just go away. to not worry about paying the bills, or to have people bending over backwards to appease us, could sound like a life free of stress and full of pleasure. but Jesus demonstrated in His life on earth that you can literally raise a person from the dead, with witnesses to boot, and people could still not see your worth or value. and that’s what we’re seeking, right? we’re looking for recognition. that’s what a reputation is- how we are seen and known by others. we can work tirelessly to keep a squeaky clean resume for ourselves, but at the end of the day who cares? the pharisees are great examples of the same type of ‘reputation-conscious’ people and they ultimately only ever cared about their own selves and their statuses. the morals they claimed to live by and ‘represent’ became so nullified by their self-focus, completely devaluing everything they ever worked for. and they seemed pretty darn miserable during the whole journey anyway. they couldn’t see the most valuable treasure, free for the taking, right in front of them... no, don’t be like the pharisees… 

when we are climbing that corporate ladder or putting our bodies through impossible diet and exercise, we gotta stop to ask: who are we fighting for? ourselves? something to fill the void? do we not feel secure in our present self? “if i just have enough, if i just am enough…” it doesn’t work like that. who cares about your actions and achievements: Jesus. who are we working for: Jesus. He is our model and His Words are instructions, guiding us how to live here on this crazy earth. like He set an example for us: we must become less, we must become servants to our brethren. the world is kind of like a fun house filled with all those distorted mirrors. nothing is true. and in this world, we are made to think that those ‘puffed up’ and prideful are the ones to admire. but Jesus tells us that the humble will be exalted. so basically what the world tells us, we should do the opposite. they tell us to climb up that corporate ladder, we should be climbing down. they say to store up your money, then we should give it away. let’s not waste anymore of our precious time here - let’s just seek our Lord Jesus and aim to be more like Him in everything we do. 

2/28/23