The Same Mindset
1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 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:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage;
7 rather, He made Himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.-Philippians 2:1-11
In this passage, we are called to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”. Jesus is God and He can raise the dead (John 11:43-44), give sight to the blind (John 9:7), and forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). We, of course, can’t do those things. And only Jesus could die for us, since He is the One and Only perfect Son of God (we are stained by sin and could never have any righteousness apart from Jesus).
How then do we have the same mindset as Jesus did?
Jesus lived among us and died for us out of His amazing love for us. He can’t do anything that isn’t love, since His very nature is love. And we are to love one another with a Christ-like love.
Jesus says:
10 “If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. 11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” – John 15:10-12 (emphasis added).
“This is my command: Love each other.” – John 15:17
What is Love?
What does love look like? God has given us general guidelines in the Bible on love.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12
As Paul writes in Philippians 2:1-2,
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. – Philippians 2:1-2
In verse 1, Paul lists the things we have as believers:
- we should take encouragement every day in our union with Jesus! Through trusting in Christ, we are saved and will enjoy an eternity with God and blessings more amazing than we can presently imagine.
- we should take deep comfort in Christ’s love for us, delighting in the security and joy we have in Jesus
- we all have the Holy Spirit living inside us
- we should have tenderness and compassion for those around us
In verse 2, Paul tells us that we should live that out in love for one another – that we should have the same love, the same spirit, the same mind. We can only achieve that by growing in the truth of God’s Word. As we grow closer to Jesus and understand the Bible more, our thinking will shift from a worldly viewpoint to a God-centered viewpoint. This won’t happen overnight and without diligently studying the Bible and applying those principles to our lives, but the change will come as we continue to seek God. And as our fellow Christians are applying themselves to this task also (us helping them when and where we can) we will all be growing into the same love, spirit and mind.
Consider Others
Paul gives us more instructions in verses 3 and 4:
3 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.
We all need time to take care of ourselves. Some of us work for a living. Some of us stay at home to care for our children. Some of us are sick and need to concentrate on getting well. There are many circumstances and many complications. God is not telling us to ignore our own needs or families or work to the detriment of our own lives.
That said, we must avoid making excuses. Most of us can probably spare some extra time and energy to look to the needs of others (and if we truly can’t, God knows that as well). We also must avoid being guilt-tripped into something that God isn’t calling us to do. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in your specific circumstances.
Ask yourself how you can love the people you are with every day.
Loving others is often doing very daily things. Pray for your friends. Tell your kids about God. Lend a helping hand to a grumpy co-worker. Send an encouraging text to someone who needs a reminder of God’s love. Jesus lived among us in our everyday lives – He ate and slept and got tired just like us, and still He chose to love us perfectly, all the time.
We try to imitate Christ’s love in our interactions with others.
And when someone around us doesn’t love us in return….
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. – Ephesians 4:32
We’re not perfect (surprise!) And we should give grace to those around us:
- to unbelievers, remembering that God loves them and desires their salvation (1 Timothy 2:4).
- to believers, remembering that God loves them and desires their spiritual good and growth.
As we live in this dark world, let us shine the light of Christ’s love to those around us. Let us show love to the strangers we meet and the people within our own houses also. Jesus loves us and shows us how to love others – let us love as Jesus would have us to!
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40