5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. (Philippians 2:5-8 – The Message)
There is a lot attached to a person’ status. Status determines ones’ rights and responsibilities, and sometimes privileges. We identify status based on social, cultural and economic situations. When status is brought to the picture, there is no equality as people will be treated differently. The status system is embedded in our mind. It naturally affects our thoughts and actions. To become selfless like Christ, one thing that we need to put away is our status. Only if we can put away status, we cannot humble ourselves before Christ and others. When we humble ourselves, we are more willing to give and not to think whether the recipient deserves it. There is no calculation, no judgment, and no comparison. As we have no special privileges or we choose not to claim our special privileges, we would be able to treat others equally.
“When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!”
