This week’s letter of focus is the letter “M” and it stands for mirror. I’m not talking about mirror as a noun. What I am talking about is to mirror something. As Christians, if we are going to grow closer to Christ and allow others to see Christ in us, we must mirror Him. Paul said it best when he wrote to the church at Philippi in Philippians 2:5-11.  I encourage you to read all of the verses, but today, I want to focus on just one verse and that is verse 5. Paul writes: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” What is Paul telling the church? Paul is saying that our dealings with other people should mirror the way Jesus dealt with people. But how was Jesus able to do this, other than obviously being Jesus? There are a few things He did that we can do to make sure we are mirroring Jesus to those around us.

One thing Jesus did was to make sure He viewed everyone on the same level. These are the words in verse 5: “who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage.” Jesus had every right to see Himself as being above others. After all, He was God, in the form of His son. He did not have to do what He did. However, He did so others could see that example and mirror it in their own lives. So, what does it look like to put yourself on the level of others?

Well that’s the next thing He did, which is mentioned in verse 7. “Jesus made Himself nothing”. As great as Jesus was, He allowed Himself to become nothing. That’s sounds strange because Jesus, in the form of God, was everything. There was nothing He was not. But in order for Him to show us what humility looked like, so we could mirror it, He had to become nothing. The lowest form of a human was a servant, and that is what he became. (V:7) He humbled Himself so we could relate to Him. (V:8)

The final thing He allowed us to see Him do so we could mirror Him was He became obedient. (V:8) Though He was equal with God, He obeyed God, all the way to the cross. Obedience can take on a negative look, if we allow it. Servanthood can take on a negative image, if we allow it. If we mirror Christ, humility and servanthood are images that are positive and not negative. Servanthood and humility are all about taking our focus off of ourselves and placing them on others, through the power of Christ. We can’t do this on our own, but we can do it through the power of Christ. Jesus did it to obey His Father. We should do it to obey our heavenly Father. Mirroring Christ is a way to show others who we truly follow. It also allows us to draw closer in our relationship with Him. Until next week…

Peace and Blessings…Johnny