Jesus Had an Attitude

Nowadays, to say someone ‘has an attitude’ is to mean such person has a bad attitude, an attitude that is destructive, uncooperative, mean spirited, etc. If someone has a ‘good’ attitude, i.e. cheerful, cooperative, helpful, responsible, etc. we don’t use the same phrase and say of that person: “he/she has an attitude”. The word attitude itself simply refers to one’s ‘settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something that is reflected in a person’s behavior’. Such a definition does not include either a positive or negative way of thinking about some other person or thing. By this definition, Jesus definitely ‘had an attitude’, and in fact, His attitude is one that we ourselves also are to adopt and embrace as our own. That ‘attitude’ was expressed in the Apostle Paul’s letter to his friends at Philippi:

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul clearly affirms that Christ ‘had an attitude’-even a specific attitude that we also are to adopt-that of a very humble servant, even that of a lowly slave. The Greek word translated ‘bondservant’ means slave. It is likely to be a shock to our self-confident [but often subtle] pride to realize that we are to take upon ourselves the posture/mindset of a slave of God-and not only to Him but even to one another. As Paul said in his letter to the church at Corinth: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants [lit-slave] for Jesus’ sake” [II Cor 4:5].

Our English word ‘humility’ comes from the Latin word ‘humilitas: a state of mind of being free from arrogance and pride’. The Greek word for humility used in the New Testament means ‘low-lying’. In other words a humble person was one who stayed ‘close to the ground’ and thus was not always promoting themselves. This does not mean we become a ‘non-person’, confusing timidity with humility, and being one who buries his/her talents, gifts, abilities, etc. out of fear that someone will think of us as a ‘show-off’, but instead out of a humble recognition that all that we have is a gift from God [see I Cor 4:7-“what do you have that you did not receive” (i.e. as a gift from God)]and that we are to use our gifts/abilities/talents as a good steward of those gifts for the defense and promotion of the Kingdom and the welfare of others.

We are reminded again during this Advent season of our Savior’s condescension-not an attitude of superiority [i.e. condescending] but of lowering Himself from His exalted state by taking the form of a man, to live among us, experiencing the toil, sweat, weariness, disappointment, temptation, abandonment, false accusations and an incredibly unjust trial, culminating in being humiliatingly nailed [likely]naked to a Roman cross. The scriptures tell us to ‘humble ourselves‘ [e.g. James 4:10, Rom 12:16, I Peter 5:6], and we don’t have to wait to be humbled by life experiences to adopt and grow in this attitude. It seems unlikely that we can ‘overdose’ on humility when we have a proper understanding of it, and that the steps on the ‘down staircase’ to humility are innumerable until you arrive at the ‘landing’ and if you ever do, you will find there in the Gethsemanean soil the knee prints of the Lord Jesus as He wrestled fearfully with embracing the will of His Father [Heb 5:7]. Thanks be to God that, for our sakes, our Lord DID embrace it!!

In what ways or areas of your life [e.g. work, sports, church, ministry, academics, your children, etc.] are you looking for opportunities to promote yourself in the eyes of others? Are you frequently updating your social media page so others can see how you live and what you are doing? Are you doing this to ‘inform’ them or somehow to impress them? Are you more concerned with others seeing your good deeds, good qualities/abilities than God seeing them? What efforts are you making to practice your ‘good deeds in secret?

Christ did not have to ’empty Himself’ of pride or wrong attitudes. He chose to lay aside or empty Himself of His exalted state as the Son of God, in order to assume the role of a humble servant. We, on the other hand, are in need of emptying ourselves of pride, selfishness, and a load of other self-focused and toxic attitudes. As you examine your own heart and life, of which ‘toxic’ attitudes do you need to be emptied?

CJS