Turn Right to Go Left

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped

–Philippians 2:5-6

This passage always struck me as kind of odd for some reason. Why wouldn’t Jesus consider equality with God something to be grasped? Isn’t this verse sort of paradoxical? After all, Paul says it right there - “who, being in very nature God.” This phrase “in very nature God” means having all the specific qualities that make God God. To paraphrase Paul here, he’s essentially saying You should act and think like Jesus, who, being God didn’t consider being God something one (including himself) can do.

It then occurred to me that not only can we not be equal with God, but that shouldn’t even be our goal. Think about those who have professed or strived to be like God. A few come to mind: Adam & Eve, Lucifer… Yeah, it didn’t work out too well for them. God is not a big fan of those who try to be like Him. In fact, he labeled this sin Pride.

Consider instead, Jesus. He humbled himself. He made himself lower than everyone and “therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:9). So God exalts the humble. Sound familiar? Sermon on the mount?

This is one of those upside-down Kingdom concepts. The first will be last and the last will be first and the humble will be lifted up and the proud will be oppressed. This concept does not make intuitive sense to us. Remember Lightning McQueen following the race against Doc Hudson on the dirt track? McQueen turns his wheels to hard and ends up spinning out sending him careening down a cliff. In an act of mercy, Doc lets McQueen in on the secret – you must turn right to go left. It doesn’t make intuitive sense to McQueen so he resists at first and again fails. Then, he begins to understand that Doc’s instructions were correct – he was teaching him to drift – the most effective method for turning on a dirt track. Once McQueen understands this, it helps him be successful and propels him to the lead in the Piston Cup race.

Now, we do have some qualities about us that are indeed like God. We are creative, we have the capacity for love, we are spiritual beings, to name a few. But our goal should not be to be like God. Instead, our aim should be to be like Jesus. Today, let’s try to consider others better than ourselves.