Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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The Restoring Christ
Philippians 2:5-11
Vs 8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!"
The word restoration has more than one meaning.  The one that we know about most is the action of returning someone or something to its previous condition.  Another meaning is the return of a monarch to the rightful throne.

Jesus accomplished both the meanings of the word restoration in his life, death and resurrection.  He restored humanity to the way it was before it was tarnished by sin.  And He returned in glory to sit next to His heavenly Father on His rightful throne.

Here in this passage, Paul is exhorting the Philippians to have the same mindset as Christ when it comes to one another.   We are to learn from God as how to become a true servant in our lives.  Attributes to describe “Christ-like” servant hood include humility and obedience.  Both go hand in hand.  The polar opposite of these two attributes are pride and disobedience; both are known to distance man from one another and from God. We must first realize that we are nothing without God and that we need direction from Him.  We also must choose to obey God and do whatever He asks of us.  Just like you cannot turn your face to the sun without putting your shadow behind you, we cannot take up our ministry without turning away from our sin and our old self.  This is exactly what God wants from us, humility like Christ to accept our inadequacies and a conscious decision to obey Him and let him by His blood restore us back to God the Father.  In doing so we should also allow for God to be restored to His rightful throne in our own hearts as the king and ruler over us. 
 
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending us Your Son to restore us to You.  Help us to learn that along with becoming whole again, we need to put you back on your rightful throne as Lord and ruler of our lives.  Amen.
 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The work for us to be saved was already completed by Jesus.  What remains for us to do is to serve with humility so that others can come to know about God.

Dr. Joe M. George, Chicago Marthoma Church, Des Plaines, IL
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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