Day 25

Day 25 of Your Journey
Be Careful What You Grasp

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (Phil. 2:6 NIV).


The whole history of mankind is our attempt to grasp equality with God. We can go back to our beginnings in the garden of Eden and find the initial temptation there.


Satan’s enticement to Eve was, “God knows . . . you will be like [Him]” (Gen. 3:5 ESV). The tragedy was that Adam and Eve never realized they were already more like Him than they would ever be again. Once sin entered, separation would enter and grow.


For us, the temptation to grasp equality with God comes in everyday decisions. In every instance that we are faced with a choice between God’s way and our own, we will be tempted to grasp.


We are lured into believing that we have the right to make any selection that pleases us. The result is that every time I choose my own way, I am in essence saying, “I will be God in my own life.”


Jesus, however, gives us a picture of what submitting to God should mean to us. Though He was fully God, He did not grasp that equality.


No one has existed who had more right to claim parity with God. Yet He willingly laid down His rights by becoming a man and fully obeying His Father’s direction. He lived not for His own glory but for His Father’s.


What is the key to Jesus’ attitude? We are told that He emptied himself of His rights. So we too should empty ourselves.


Any attitude that says, “I have the right to make the final decision in this matter,” will lead us to making an idol of ourselves. We must remove ourselves from this throne.


Making It Personal

What areas of your life are you grasping? Where have you not asked God His pleasure, or simply refused to release your own? Release those areas to God.