Sunday, October 25, 2009

Zero upward mobility ( Phil. 2 )

Christians are comforted by their belief that their Creator, the author of the universe and their lives, wrote Himself in the story. We see in the life of Jesus a revelation of God's character, mercy, and justice. A central and joyous paradox of our faith is its focus in One who had everything, but gave it all up, to make us insanely rich, beyond our wildest dreams, in all that is eternally important. 

    Php 2:5 Mesih İsa'daki düşünce sizde de olsun. 
    Php 2:6 Mesih, Tanrı özüne sahip olduğu halde, Tanrı'ya eşitliği sımsıkı sarılacak bir hak saymadı. 
    Php 2:7,8 Ama kul özünü alıp insan benzeyişinde doğarak ululuğunu bir yana bıraktı. İnsan biçimine bürünmüş olarak ölüme, çarmıh üzerinde ölüme bile boyun eğip kendini alçalttı. 
    Php 2:9 Bunun için de Tanrı O'nu pek çok yükseltti ve O'na her adın üstünde olan adı bağışladı. 
    Php 2:10,11 Öyle ki, İsa'nın adı anıldığında gökteki, yerdeki ve yer altındakilerin hepsi diz çöksün ve her dil, Baba Tanrı'nın yüceltilmesi için İsa Mesih'in Rab olduğunu açıkça söylesin. 

You would think that the Almighty would have "zero upward mobility." Nothing could conceivably add to His glory and honor. Yet, strangely enough, it is what God did in and through Jesus that humanity has come to bow before their Creator on the widest possible scale.  Even the heavenly beings, and those "under the earth," whoever they are, had their eyes more fully opened to the majesty and goodness of our God.

A Muslim friend and I watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ together. When the movie was screened in Turkey, he said,  viewers wept aloud to see the pain inflicted upon Jesus. Yet, since Christians believe that Jesus bore that pain on our behalf, our love for Him is great.

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