December 4: Picture This Mind
Friday, December 4
Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
PICTURE THIS MIND
As usual, simple words often carry a boatload of cargo. “Mind” in verse five is such a word. We who’ve been educated tend to think of “mind” as thinking—the activity of thought or having thoughts. But in scripture, “mind” means much more than that. Some versions translate mind as “mindset” or “attitude,” and while that gets closer, the definition of mind is deeper, more holistic. For the Hebrews, the mind was in the heart, which means, like the heart, it is where thought, feeling, and desire converged. It is the deep picture of the world we carry with us. It is the bed of sediment that has accumulated over a thousand experiences, thoughts, images, and feelings and on which run the water of our everyday thoughts. The mind is our deepest world view, if we understand it indeed as a view—my settled picture of the world that hums under the hood of my life all day long. (Even “picture” is a metaphor here for the mind’s intuitive “feel” for the world that is as instant and powerful as a picture’s “thousand words.”)
Someone who has the victim’s mind sees the world as hostile and themselves as hunted. When they are “thinking” and when they are not--no matter--their mind is operational, directing their thoughts, feelings, desires and bodies. They move and are moved by vigilance, defensiveness and suspicion. Someone who has greed’s mind sees around them limited resources—of respect, money, influence—that they must gather or lose. They move and are moved by competition in a world of only two kinds of people: winners and losers.
What is the mind of Christ, then? To Christ, people are not ultimately a threat, and life is not finally a competition. People are wounded, sin-sick, burdened, needing a father, someone to nurture them like a mother. They need forgiveness, companionship, and reassurance. They are valuable and need to be saved in the fullest sense. Jesus also saw in his mind’s picture: Who it is that held Him, and he abandoned Himself into God’s hands. Such a settled picture, operating
under the hood of Christ’s life,
means that his mind
didn’t move his hand
to grasp at the power
within his reach
to secure himself.
He was free to serve.
So we need to “consider” (a good translation of v. 5) God, ourselves, and others as Jesus did Such considering is not as quick as thought, but matures through mulling, meditation, hearts humming truth (listen to Odd Thomas’ The Incarnation), unceasing prayer, the confession of sins, gospel growing repentance, honest prayer, obedience that exposes, and relationships that ground. The mind of Christ, in other words, materializes through the workmanship of daily worship, whereby the Holy Spirit forms in us the mind of Christ as we humbly present our bodies to Him.
PRAYER
Yes, Lord, I want to “Have this mind,” which You say is ours in Christ Jesus. How would the world look through Your mind, Jesus? It must be incredible. I want to picture that. I want Your mind to help my mind see. Here I am to worship. All day. I present myself to you.
Amen.
Todd Pickett, Dean of Spiritual Development
The Incarnation
Odd Thomas
Spoken Word Poetry Video
About the Poetry
Spoken word poetry is a performance-based style focused on the aesthetics of wordplay and storytelling. It originated from the poetry of African Americans in Harlem, and often includes collaboration and experimentation with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance.
About the Poet
Odd Thomas is a poet, hip-hop artist, and one third of Beautiful Eulogy, an artist collective that melds myriad styles of hip-hop with genres such as folk, electronic, hymn tunes, and modern worship music. The music and poetry of Odd Thomas stands alone as an unique category of creative contributions in hip-hop. By making his own beats, writing his own lyrics, and producing his own sound, he gives listeners an authentic look into his heart, mind, and soul as an artist, as well as the biblical worldview behind the art form itself. His thoughts about God, man, and the world are interwoven throughout his rhymes and wordplay, making the listening experience both aesthetically enjoyable and intellectually stimulating.
Website: www.humblebeast.com/beautiful-eulogy
Lyrics
What good is the Christmas story if it's void of God and His glory?
What's the worth of the words “peace on earth” if it's not rooted in the truth of Christ's birth?
What benefit is it for us to discuss the joy of the season unless we fix our hearts and minds on the principal reason that Christ has atoned for us?
See Christmas is more than just a story of a baby born in a manger,
More than a poor fiancé engaged to a humble virgin teenager,
More than a Magi, more than gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It's more than a narrative of a Nativity scene, it was so much more that occurred.
It's the coming of the Messiah, the fulfilment of all Old Testament promises,
The prophecy of the suffering Servant and all of His accomplishments,
The second Person of the Trinity commissioned to abandon His position,
And literally set aside the independent exercise of His attributes in full submission.
The Word manifested in the flesh, the fullness of God expressed,
The self-emptying Jesus poured out at the Father's request,
The image of the invisible God, the radiance of the Father's fame,
Holy, but retained His humanness to empathize with our pain.
He was unjustly crushed, chastised, cursed and shamed,
Mocked and adorned with a crown of thorns, disgraced but He still faced the grave
To fulfill the Father's will, to come and die in the place of sinful men
And receive the full fury of God's judgement upon Himself instead,
The most monumental mark for mankind made in human history,
Wretched sinners being made righteous only by the wounds of the risen King,
The condescending of a holy God made in the likeness of men,
A child born to be the Savior that would save the world from their sins,
The offspring of the virgin's womb,
The Christ, God's own Son, fully God, yet fully man, the only theanthropic One.
This is what we celebrate, Christ the newborn King, veiled in flesh, the Godhead seen,
Hail incarnate Deity.