Equality With God

Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not deem equality with God
Something to be grasped at.
(Phil 2:6)

So much of what we do in this life is aimed at our achieving equality with God. We strive for more knowledge, for relief from pain and sorrow, for happiness --- always, and are upset with the least disruptions to our plans. If we had a life which we could choose (indeed, we strive for), it would be one of the beginning of heaven here on earth.

But that is not the example Jesus gave us:

He was known to be of human estate,
And it was thus that he humbled himself,
Obediently accepting even death,
Death on a cross.
(Phil 2:8)

Jesus accepted the life He was created to live. “He humbled himself, obediently accepting”. He certainly didn’t have to. He truly could have chosen to live the life we strive for, a heaven here on earth: “He was in the form of God.” He could have achieved anything he wanted, and he had the same earthly temptations before him that we have, but he chose obediently accepting the humble life that he was created to live.

Why?

Because of this,
God highly exalted Him.
(Phil 2:9)

In choosing not to achieve heaven here on earth, he achieved heaven in eternity, for him and us. In choosing not what he wanted but what the Father created him to be, “God highly exalted Him.” In choosing to say with his entire life: “Not my will, but Thy will be done” (Mt 26:39), he lived the perfect human life. He achieved the ultimate, eternal human happiness.

By: “obediently accepting.”

How accepting are we of our life, of being who WE were created to be? How often do we say: “Not my will, but Thy will be done?”

May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord, furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. Through Jesus Christ may he carry out in you all that is pleasing in him.
(Heb 13:20)