Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 1.8.22

By January 8, 2022Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
    he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Tim’s Devotional Reflection for Today

Do you remember the WWJD craze (“What would Jesus do?”)? Those letters were on bumper stickers, bracelets, rings, t-shirts, and lots of other places.

It wasn’t anything new. St. Francis of Assisi based his movement on such a question in the early thirteenth century. The Social Gospel movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century brought it back.

When I was in high school, our youth group read Charles Sheldon’s book, In His Steps, written in 1896 as the Social Gospel movement was gaining steam. This novel is the story of the impact of that question on a church community in which members vowed to ask the question, What would Jesus do? before making any decision or taking any action.  They would then answer that question to the best of their ability, and let that answer shape their decision or action.

That book had an impact on me. What would Jesus do?  is a great question to ask, but difficult to answer in some situations, isn’t it?  How can we know what Jesus would do in every situation and in every circumstance?

Today we turn to a passage in Paul’s letter to the Philippians in which Paul challenges us in a similar way. The Common English Bible translation translates Paul’s challenge as “Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus.” The New Revised Standard Version says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” 

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

When we let that admonition sink in for a moment we see some immense implications for our Christian spiritual life.  But, again, how can we know the mind of Christ Jesus?

Paul made it pretty clear what it means to think and act as Jesus Christ did. He wrote to the Philippians that they would make his joy complete if they had unity of mind, heart, and soul, humbly counting others more important than themselves, and putting the interest of others ahead of their own.

Paul went on to quote what scholars have recognized as a hymn, possibly composed by Paul. Just as likely, it was a hymn they sang in churches of that time, probably at baptism, because it follows the theme of dying and rising with Christ.

Christ modeled servanthood, humility, and self-giving. He did not consider equality with God as something to cling to selfishly, but rather as a way of emptying himself, in his human state, taking a servant’s form.

At the human level, that of real flesh and blood, Christ exemplified servanthood in its ultimate expression and compassion in its ultimate expression. Here, surely, we see how far love will go — trusting himself into God’s hands unreservedly, holding nothing back. His was a humble mind, a servant mind, a God-centered mind.

That is the kind of mind Paul said we are to have in us, as well — and to empty ourselves in that same way. This kind of emptiness means fully recognizing who we are, our own needs — and being open to being filled with the Holy Spirit and the love of God.

When my schedule is full, when I am full of self-importance, when I am full of self-sufficiency, when I am full of fear, when I am full of panic, when I am full of worry…when I am full of anything at all, then there is no space for something else.

Reformer Martin Luther said, “God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, God can make something out of us.”

When we are humble, then we are empty of self. When we are empty of self, then there is room for God, for the Unexpected Love to come and fill us. When we are empty in this sense, then there is room for goodness, creativity, and love to flow through us.

Hymn Suggestion

“He is Lord”

He is Lord, he is Lord!
He is risen from the dead and he is Lord!
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these reflections on a portion of scripture.  I hope you will carry these with you throughout your day and night.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor