“Have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5)
It is unbelievable how much we struggle with pride when we are lowly and wretched people. We brag about our good deeds which are but filthy rags. We find our identity in ultimately trivial things like our fitness or our grades. We even instill in ourselves a sense of pride when we sin by comparing ourselves to the murderer, the cheating husband, or the bully at school. It often seems like we can’t escape this sin of pride which follows us around and constantly begs us to give in, and we do.
Paul reassures us that there is a way out, exhorting us to take on the attitude of the ultimate example of humility found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Though Christ was fully God, He did not consider equality with God something to be exploited (vs. 6). Rather, he took the form of a servant and became man, taking on all of humanity but our sinful nature (vs. 7). Christ humbled Himself and obeyed the Father by marching towards and dying on that cross to secure eternal life for sinners that deserve nothing (vs. 8). Paul tells us that we ought to have that same attitude that Christ possessed.
If anyone had the right to be proud, it was Christ—God who became man and lived the perfect life. But no, it was Christ who put on humility that none of us would put on were we to be in His place.
The Gospel cannot drive us to be anything else but humble because in it, we learn that we are dead in our sins, deserve eternal damnation and can do nothing to rescue ourselves or come to Christ in our own strength. And it is the Gospel which frees us to be humble because through the finished work of Christ on the cross, we have been given eternal life, abundant riches in Christ, and good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to step into in faith, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of everything Christ has done in humility. In our fight against pride, let’s look to the Gospel, and see the freedom to live humbly that the work of Christ has brought to us.