Give her a Kleenex

I hate crying. Like if I made a list of things I hate to do, it would easily be in the top 5. Seriously, I hate it. It makes me feel weak and vulnerable and I want to be strong and capable.

One summer when Jeff was doing an end of the summer testimony night, I wanted to share but was fearful I would start crying. I had this whole plan in my head of what I could say and was rehearsing it so I wouldn’t cry. When I started to talk, I said the first sentence and started crying. It wasn’t just a tear or two streaming down the side of my face, it was an ugly cry… I kinda squeaked through the basic idea of what I wanted to say. Then the next person went. I felt so dumb, I hated it.

A few years later, I was talking to my friend Jess (Scott’s older sister) and she told me one of her favorite memories of me was that night I cried. She said it was so cool to see that someone she looked up to so much was so real.

[Philippians 2:5-8 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 bond-servant, 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.]

This passage is one that causes lots of theological debates. People argue over what it means that Jesus emptied Himself. I think the cool part about this passage though is that Jesus would do something as humbling as becoming a person for us. Jesus was in heaven with God and opted to come to earth as a baby and live life on earth without all the strength and capabilities He had in heaven. He had to endure things that were certainly beneath Him, but He chose to do them for us.

We are to have this same attitude that Christ has. Sometimes obedience to God requires us humbling ourselves as well. Following Christ doesn’t always mean that we get to do these awesome things. Sometimes it means humbling ourselves and cleaning toilets. Or humbling ourselves and sitting with the smelly kid. Or humbling ourselves and crying in front of people.

1. Have you ever had an experience when God was able to use you in this sort of way?

2. He _______________ Himself by becoming _______________ to the point of death.

3. Is there anything you feel God wants you to do but it feels beneath you?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.