Obedient Unto Death

...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.—Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

"...obedient to the point of death,"

Those words gripped my heart like never before last night. We are to be like Christ...who humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death...while we were still sinners. Though we continue to sin.

"...obedient to the point of death,"

Obedience is a form of death - death to self. And sometimes, obedience can even feel like death. I have had moments when it seemed every fiber in my being was screaming for one thing or another, where every nerve, every impluse, every muscle was demanding the one thing I knew the Lord did not want me to have. In the times I obeyed, I did not die. And, by His mercy, I didn't die through my disobedience either.

But Christ was obedient to the point of death, on purpose, knowing what we are and what we would still be afterwards.

The love of Christ ... surpasses knowledge.

Truly it does.

Lord, I know that it is unlikely that I will ever have to obey you in a way that would mean my death, but please help me to be willing to obey no matter how fiercely my flesh fights against you. Help me to be willing to be obedient unto death - if that is what it takes - or more to the point, to continue in obedience allowing nothing but death stop me from doing that which you call me to and endeavoring to glorify you every moment of every day.