Who Are You Imitating?

Philippians 2:3-6 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!"

When I was younger I had several people I usually tried to imitate. Usually they were a pro athlete.  My family got to know one of the players on the Detroit Tigers, so when the Tigers got in town I got to meet him after the game and a bunch of the players. I was in heaven at that age.  I got their uniform t-shirts, hats and baseball cards.  I memorized their statistics.    

Paul pretty much says the same thing as he summarizes the Christian life by saying, "In your relationships with others have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." Basically he saying learn to think and act like Jesus.  This is what it means to follow Jesus.  Imitate him.  If you wanted to be a certain type of baseball player you imitated the way they threw the ball or swung the bat.  Paul says, "Watch the way Jesus lived and it is a great way to live that glorififes God."  So what does this look like? 

In this passage it says, "Don't be selfish or conceited, but in humility consider others as better than yourselves."  This is a huge challenge.  We all tend to think a little too highly of ourselves and too little of others. This is a great definition of humility, "Thinking of others as better than ourselves."  Our example is Jesus.  After all, He was God and still humbled himself by coming to earth and putting others above himself.  

Secondly, Paul says don't look only to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Instead of asking the question what do I need when you enter a situation, think what do the others need.  Do they need help setting up?  Do they need someone to talk to?  How can I support them?

Jesus always put others first.  Ultimately this was the attitude he demonstrated in going to the cross on our behalf.  Jesus completely humbled himself by subjecting himself to the cruel punishment of crucifixion though he had done nothing wrong.  Jesus put our interests first, as he died realizing that we needed someone to save us from our sins. 

When we have the mindset of Christ, I doubt there is something that is "beneath us".  I don't we can "out-serve" or "out-humble" There is a general lack of people worthy of imitation today.  But we always have Jesus.  As we imitate him and develop his mindset when we humble ourselves and serve others we give others someone to imitate.